June 1, 2020

Prison Education and the Church

Philosophy. Oral Rhetoric. Christian Formation. Business. Biology. These are among the many subjects studied by incarcerated college students. Behind barbed wire, concrete walls, and steel doors resides intellectually curious men and women who are enrolled in rigorous academic programs. But the resources for postsecondary education are sparse. And few Christians are assisting in this academic

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Restorative vs. Retributive Justice and the Implications for Public Life

Restorative Justice vs. Retributive Justice: Definitions and Illustrations My daughter – then a 3rd grader – came out of school crying. Her teacher explained to me that she had confessed to writing graffiti on the stalls of the girls’ bathroom: “Happy death day.” Apparently, it was the name of a movie I had never watched. When the 1st

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The U.S. Church and Youth: Incarceration or Restoration?

Behold, children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him. (Proverbs 127:3, NIV) Two 17-year-old youth, arguing. A crime is committed. The outcome? It depends… True Story Two 17-year-old African American youth live in a low-wealth, resilient, urban community frequented by trauma. They play ball together in the gym of a

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How Those Incarcerated Suffer Most in the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 is affecting everybody. But like most catastrophes, the majority of us are inconvenienced, yet for the most vulnerable it becomes yet another life and death experience. There has been lots of lively debate recently about releasing nonviolent offenders from jails, prisons and juvenile detention facilities. But what has been missing for me in the

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Voices in the Violence: How Black Churches in Brooklyn Can Help Us Find Our Voice As We Minister in Violent Contexts

Introduction: An Epidemic of Violence It was a warm summer day in Brooklyn when my wife and I took our kids out after dinner so they could ride their scooters on Eastern Parkway, only two blocks from our apartment. A short time later, we came home to discover that our block had been transformed. An

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Review: Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores

Title: Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores Author: Dominique DuBois Gilliard Publisher: Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2018 Pages: 199 plus end notes Reviewer: Kyuboem Lee Incarceration has profoundly shaped countless urban communities across the American landscape, and this issue has received deserved attention in recent years, especially in the wake of Ferguson and

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Review: Becoming a Just Church: Cultivating Communities of God’s Shalom

Title: Becoming a Just Church: Cultivating Communities of God’s Shalom Author: Adam L. Gustine Publisher: Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2019 Pages: 204 plus end notes Reviewer: Susan S. Baker There are a number of books written about how a church can be effective cross-culturally. Multi-ethnic churches are attempting to reach across cultural lines to

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