by John Ellis I met Patrick Buchanan in 1996. He was in Greenville, SC, wooing voters for his bid to become the Republican nominee for the presidential election later that year.[1] A friend and fellow student at Bob Jones University had scored an invitation to a private reception for the paleoconservative stalwart. I tagged along. … Continue reading Claiming that Africa Shares Responsibility for the Transatlantic Slave Trade Is Historically Deceptive (Not to Mention Racist)
Tag: Jesus
Sunday Morning is the Most Segregated Hour in America for a Reason, but Probably Not for the Reason You Think
by John Ellis Much is made of Sunday morning containing the most segregated hour in American culture. The handwringing isn’t necessarily based on a falsity. It’s true that church services, by and large, are segregated. Ironically, many of the white evangelicals lamenting this state of affairs fail to understand the reason for the segregation in … Continue reading Sunday Morning is the Most Segregated Hour in America for a Reason, but Probably Not for the Reason You Think
A Modern-Day Parable
by John Ellis Interestingly, when his disciples asked Jesus why he often spoke in parables he replied, “The secret of the Kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may ever be seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never … Continue reading A Modern-Day Parable
Kingdom Ethics: The American Dream versus God’s Definition of Flourishing
by John Ellis When we think of idols, our first thoughts likely go to examples like Dagon in his temple as described in 1 Samuel 5, the golden calf Aaron made for the impatient and rebellious Israelites while Moses was on the mountain meeting with God, or the altar to Baal that Gideon destroyed in … Continue reading Kingdom Ethics: The American Dream versus God’s Definition of Flourishing
Kingdom Ethics: Escaping the Trap of Poverty
by John Ellis (Note: While combing through old files in search of something else, I stumbled across this article. I remember writing it but don’t remember if I ever published it. It was written right around the time I deleted my previous blog A Day In His Court and about two months before starting this … Continue reading Kingdom Ethics: Escaping the Trap of Poverty
The Republican Party Is Neither Pro-Life Nor Pro-Family
by John Ellis In 1954, the CIA initiated and supported a coup to remove Jacobo Arbenz from the office of President of Guatemala, an office to which he had been democratically elected in 1951. President Arbenz’s crime? He was in the process of nationalizing large tracts of rich farmland. Here’s the backstory: Going all the … Continue reading The Republican Party Is Neither Pro-Life Nor Pro-Family
Why I Write About/To White Evangelicals
by John Ellis I almost titled this article “You’re so Vain, You Think this Article Is about You,” but decided against it. I don’t mind being provocative if it serves my thesis, but I’ve been writing long enough to know that tongue-in-cheek titles rarely land the way I intend. At best, they come across as … Continue reading Why I Write About/To White Evangelicals
Biblical Critical Theory: The Enlightenment Tempts Us to Eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
by John Ellis “Therefore, no doubt, the sovereignty of man lieth hid in knowledge.” Francis Bacon[1] The masterful book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by anthropologist David Graeber and comparative archaeologist David Wengrow challenges the prevailing Western story about human progress. The first chapter, “Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood,” wonders, “why the … Continue reading Biblical Critical Theory: The Enlightenment Tempts Us to Eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
‘Sound of Freedom’: Smuggling QAnon Conspiracies into Our Churches
by John Ellis What do you get when you cross a QAnon promoting, MAGA actor with a glory hound who uses a very real and devastating issue as a tool for self-promotion? You get Sound of Freedom, the movie currently capturing the hearts of minds of white evangelicals near you. With a production budget just … Continue reading ‘Sound of Freedom’: Smuggling QAnon Conspiracies into Our Churches
Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
by John Ellis July 4th is upon us. For many Americans, it’s a High Holy Day complete with a baptism of cheap beer, communion with hotdogs, and a doxology of fireworks as they celebrate the founding of what they believe is the greatest nation on earth. There is a large subset within those celebrants who … Continue reading Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
Practically Known Theology 