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Dec 16, 2024 | 
mdpi.com | Jared E. Alcántara
1. IntroductionIn a racialized society, the explication of racial–ethnic identity by Christian preachers requires practical wisdom, theological reflection, and intercultural competence. Proceed with caution. Discussions of racial–ethnic identity remain fraught on account of the pervasiveness of racism, ethnocentrism, and xenophobia.
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Mar 28, 2024 | 
churchanew.org | Jared E. Alcántara
The following is a lightly edited transcript and a video of Jared E. Alcantara’s talk from our 2022 Enfleshing Witness gathering. Jared E. Alcantara is Professor of Preaching at Truett Seminary at Baylor University. He was born and raised in New Jersey and came to faith in Christ at the age of 14. He is half Latino, Honduran, and half white. An ordained Baptist minister, he has served as a youth pastor, associate pastor, and teaching pastor in Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, and New Jersey.
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May 18, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier |David P. Gushee
—after the painting Fishing by Jean Carruthers Wetta In the blue-gray early mornings, when boy and mansay nothing, hear all—water, fish, wind, wave—prayer weaves through air, a silent Amenbreaking the surface of ripple, enough to claima large-mouthed bass or an undulating lake of faithin the blue-gray early morning. When boy and manrise and ready—their rods soon casting the unspokenacross arch of sky—together they brave cold and fog, craveprayer woven through air.
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May 17, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Ekow Eshun |Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier
As a self-professed daydreamer who is deeply invested in Afrofuturism, sci-fi, the arts, and Black spiritualities, I commend In the Black Fantastic as an essential read. In it, Ekow Eshun invites the reader to embark on a journey exploring Black artistic consciousness. Coming in at just over 300 pages with stunning art images throughout, this bound volume captures the essence of Eshun’s celebrated exhibition of the same title from last summer.
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May 17, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier |David P. Gushee
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and McCormick Theological Seminary are moving into available space on the campus of Catholic Theological Union, creating a theological megacampus on the South Side of Chicago. The Lutheran School of Theology, a seminary belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, signed a lease on May 10 with Catholic Theological Union, CTU announced that day in a press release.
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May 17, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier |David P. Gushee
I’m reading other worlds. In one story a city is planted from seeds—buildings, people, and animals sprout like daffodils. In another, a mother and daughter clash over the fate of their planet. In another, a people, bound together by their common fate, create a new life in a decimated land. “All organizing is science fiction,” writes Walidah Imarisha.
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May 16, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier |David P. Gushee
Little lake in the middle of May, you are still frozen white except for a sleeve of wateralong this sandy shore. Whitebark pine trees thistle the snowbanks, waveto you in the wind and say, In just another week or two, we will see ourselves again. —John Muir Wilderness
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May 15, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jared E. Alcántara |Julian DeShazier |David P. Gushee
This spring, Presbyterian Church (USA) ratified an amendment to its governing document, mandating a minimum of 12 weeks of paid family leave for called and installed pastors at congregations. The historic vote was the culmination of a six-year general assembly process, and also of grassroots church advocacy. In 2014, the general assembly approved an overture “encouraging” six weeks of paid family leave across the denomination. That left it up to councils to decide what amount to provide, if any.
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May 15, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Amy Frykholm |Jessica Mesman |Jared E. Alcántara |David P. Gushee
I don’t know the extent of our cat Snitch’s vocabulary, but the first word to which she responded after we adopted her was her name. Many animals—including we humans—learn to respond first to names. When a friend of mine started school, the teacher called his mother reporting that her son had been absent the first day. Confused, since she had driven him to school that morning and walked him to his classroom, his mother asked him about it.
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May 15, 2023 | 
christiancentury.org | Elizabeth McCracken |Amy Frykholm |Jessica Mesman |Jared E. Alcántara
Beloved by many readers, Elizabeth McCracken is still best known for her debut novel The Giant’s House, published in 1996. That delightful tale about a librarian and her enormous lover brought McCracken, a librarian, a National Book Award nomination and outsized expectations. But she did not immediately fulfill them. Instead she became a writers’ writer, quite literally—teaching at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, editing Ann Patchett, and taking up the James A.
