This issue’s theme is “Gun Violence and the Urban Church.” Sometime in November this year, the number of murders committed in the city of Philadelphia surpassed 500, setting a new grim record for the city. In the wake of the pandemic, lockdowns, and social upheavals, the rate of violent incidents across American cities skyrocketed. For […]
Letter from the Editors: Volume 7, Issue 2 Read More »
(Editor’s note: The following has been adapted from a panel discussion, “Faith and the Justice System,” a part of Missio Seminary’s Courageous Conversations, which took place on November 18, 2021, at the Bible Way Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. YouTube recording of the panel discussion is found here.) I was born and raised literally about
Pastoring Youth Behind Bars Read More »
The Initial Victory In 2009, on a bitterly cold January afternoon, I joined eleven others in a civil disobedience action against a gun shop in Philadelphia. At the time this gun shop was reputed to be the fifth largest seller of illegal guns in the United States through a process called “straw purchasing.” Straw purchasers
The Role of Faith in Addressing Gun Violence: A Change of Perspective Read More »
Introduction The pandemic that hit our world in 2019 changed our lives, our cities, and our countries. Our lives have been broken by the loss of friends and family; and we have been physically distant from the ones we love. Some of us even survived close encounters with death in the form of COVID-19. Our
Creating Thirdspaces in the Time of COVID Read More »
Every story has a beginning. Mine starts in Philadelphia, PA, in the Kensington and Allegheny section of the city. There I grew up in a rowhome with my mother, brother and sister where I learned the importance of strength, survival and self-reliance. Those were great values but we missed out on what a loving father
A Life Redeemed: From Chaos to Peace Read More »
I live in Philadelphia, a city where grit is not just a metaphor for our working-class ethic but also a description of the landscape. When our hockey team recently got a new mascot, they named it Gritty. So “gritty” is a visual cue, a posture, and an ethos for Philadelphia. Defining neighborhood boundaries in Philadelphia
A Cultural Exegesis of a South Philadelphia Neighborhood Read More »
My first church was Northside Chapel in Paterson, NJ. I spent two years there, and then the Lord moved me back to Grand Rapids, MI, which we in the Christian Reformed Church tend to view as “the Holy City.” I ended up at a church that was a merger between two churches. One was a
Opening Up the Gift of the City Read More »
Title: Christians Against Christianity: How Right-wing Evangelicals are Destroying Our Nation and Our Faith Author: Obery M. Henricks, Jr. Publisher: Boston, MA: Beacon Press Pages: 232 Reviewer: Carolyn Custis James When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you
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