“The Weekend Wanderer” is a weekly curated selection of news, stories, resources, and media on the intersection of faith and culture for you to explore through your weekend. Wander through these links however you like and in any order you like. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with all the views expressed within these articles but have found them thought-provoking.
“How to Read the Bible in Color: Why a group of multi-ethnic editors began working on a new commentary of the New Testament” – Esau McCaulley in Christianity Today: “I was sitting in a coffee shop, books taking up too much space on the tiny table in front of me, bemoaning the lack of attention the academy paid to the Black church and the distinctive interpretative habits of African American church leaders and scholars. My time in religious higher education had signaled, in ways large and small, its belief that the tradition that shaped me had little to say to the rest of the world. The important ideas and trends arose in Europe or white North American spaces—Black Christians, on the other hand, were historically deemed theologically simplistic or dangerous. But I longed for people to know the tradition as I experienced it: life-giving, spiritually robust, and intellectually stimulating. We had wrestled with God and found our way toward faith in the context of anti-Black racism often perpetuated by other Christians. I wanted to make that story and the fruits of our labor known. I still do. While I sipped my coffee, I was struck by an idea that served as the genesis for The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Commentary on the New Testament. I often complained about white scholars neglecting African American voices, but I knew little about Asian American biblical interpretation, its theological and historical developments, and the gifts it offered to the body of Christ. The same was true regarding Latino interpretation and the Bible-reading habits of First Nations and Indigenous peoples. In some ways, I was a hypocrite. I wanted people to attend to the contributions of my community without being similarly invested in others. I needed to spend less time complaining and more time listening. The New Testament in Color thus began with that insight. It was a hope that we might come together across ethnic differences and create something beautiful.”
“A Collective Call to the Global Church from Middle East Evangelical Leaders” – A plea from various leaders in the Middle East hosted by Levant Ministries: “We, Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Iraqi evangelical leaders representing various churches and Christian ministries, warmly invite our brothers and sisters in the global Church to engage with us, listen to our stories, and together acknowledge the power of unity and the gospel to transform our broken and divided region. We extend this invitation as a reflection of our steadfast commitment to the gospel and our ongoing efforts to make significant contributions to the lives of millions of people across the Middle East. We deeply appreciate the legacy of Western missionaries who arrived nearly two centuries ago to help us deepen our spiritual heritage and we honor the faithfulness of those serving today. Together, we aspire for our churches in the Middle East to reclaim our historic role as centers of outreach (Acts 1:8). Today, we renew our invitation to our global Church family to engage and unite with us to achieve this vision.”
“300 Christian leaders demand action from US gov’t over persecution in India” – Anugrah Kumar in The Christian Post: “More than 300 Christian leaders in the United States, including denominational leaders, are calling on the U.S. State Department to designate India as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ amid escalating violations of religious freedoms, especially against Christians. A letter sent earlier this month responds to increasing violence and systemic persecution under the Hindu nationalist government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The signatories include a wide range of church leaders from various denominations, with 18 bishops, three archbishops and numerous clergy and leaders from theological schools and Christian organizations. The leaders say the persecution of religious minorities in India has worsened considerably since Modi’s regime began in 2014. The letter marks the first concerted effort by U.S. Christian leaders to address religious persecution in India.”
“Faith leaders meet at White House for climate goals” – Chloë-Arizona Fodor in Religion News Service: “The White House hosted more than a dozen faith leaders Tuesday (Aug. 13) to discuss President Joe Biden’s climate-related goals and how faith-based organizations can benefit from and support the administration’s climate agenda as the presidential election approaches. One of the meeting’s top priorities was to explain how faith communities can better utilize federal funds for clean energy initiatives. Houses of worship are eligible to use Direct Pay, a provision through the Inflation Reduction Act that helps tax-exempt entities benefit from federal clean energy tax incentives by issuing payments equal in value to tax credits. The system is meant to encourage nonprofits and other entities to proactively build clean energy projects. Religious leaders in attendance from across the country shared stories of the different ways their congregations have used Direct Pay, from increasing energy efficiency to preparing for natural disasters. ‘The main thrust of the whole meeting was to help us religious leaders understand the initiatives well enough to go back to our various communities and share how they can get on board,’ explained the Rev. Betty Holley, a presiding elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Ohio Conference and professor of environmental ethics at Payne Theological Seminary. Holley said the event aimed to help faith communities ‘be good stewards of what God has given us.'”
“How to Read Dallas Willard” – Steve Porter on the Yale Center for Faith and Culture podcast: “Dallas Willard (1935-2013) was an influential philosopher and beloved author and speaker on Christian spiritual formation. He had the unique gift of being able to speak eloquently to academic and popular audiences, and it’s fascinating to observe the ways his philosophical thought pervades and influences his spiritual writings—and vice versa. In this episode, Steve Porter (Senior Research Fellow and Executive Director of the Martin Institute, Westmont College / Affiliate Professor of Spiritual Formation at Biola University) joins Evan Rosa to explore the key concepts and ideas that appear throughout Dallas Willard’s philosophical and spiritual writings, including: epistemological realism; a relational view of knowledge; how knowledge makes love possible; phenomenology and how the mind experiences, represents, and comes into contact with reality; how the human mind can approach the reality of God with a love for the truth; moral psychology; and Dallas’s concerns about the recent resistance, loss, and disappearance of moral knowledge.”
“The roots of Hebrew Roots: A small but growing movement of Christians believes fervently that Torah observance is for everyone” – Dawn Araujo-Hawkins in The Christian Century: “For Amy Guenther, the shift to Torah observance was swift and unexpected. About a decade ago, one of her friends started creating Facebook posts suggesting that Christians should be keeping the laws laid out in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. ‘She would say things like, “Christian, Jesus didn’t die so you could not do sabbath,” and, “Jesus didn’t die so you could eat a ham sandwich,”‘ Guenther recalled. Guenther, a Baptist-educated nurse and mother of three, had been raised to believe that following the laws of the Hebrew Bible was like ‘stomping on the grace of the cross’—a solid way to earn yourself a one-way ticket to hell. And although she wasn’t particularly close with this Facebook friend, Guenther became somewhat obsessed with saving her from eternal damnation. In preparation for a confrontation with her, Guenther started a notebook of the ‘debatable passages’ such as Matthew 5:17–20—’I have come not to abolish but to fulfill’ the law—that she’d seen used to promote the Torah’s relevance for followers of Jesus. She started using an interlinear Bible so she could verify the meaning of Hebrew words, and she read the entire Bible, looking especially for the place where God changes the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. ‘Of course I didn’t find it, because it’s not in there,’ Guenther told the century. She also found that she couldn’t argue down those debatable passages she’d listed out. So, a few weeks later, Guenther celebrated Passover for the first time.”
Music: U2, “Yahweh” live from Chicago, originally from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
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Matthew Erickson 