Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive what was their due from society.
We’re honored to learn from Dr. Hanna Reichel, an associate professor of Reformed Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, about their journey of faith, academic research on reformed theology, and their new book: After Method: Queer Grace, Conceptual Design, and the Possibility of Theology.
You can get this full episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or YouTube. You can also download or listen to the full podcast episode here.
We’re honored to learn from Dr. M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas) about the key ethical concerns and social critiques of Amos, Isaiah, and Micah. It’s the topic of his book: The Lord Roars: Recovering the Prophetic Voice for Today.
You can get this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or YouTube. You can also download or listen to the full podcast episode here.
In this week’s podcast, we learn from Dr. Amy Kenny about her important and brilliant new book entitled “My Body is Not a Prayer Request: Disability Justice in the Church.”
It’s a book that describes her experiences as a disabled Christian in the church – and the unintentional ableism occurring regularly in religious communities. She also provides guidance on how we all can create more inclusive spiritual homes where disabled people fully belong and thrive in all aspects of church ministry.
You can get this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or YouTube. You can also listen or download the full podcast episode here.
In the episode, Dr. Amy Kenny talks with us about:
• On writing about disability justice in the church
• Why this book is a scream for disability justice
• Being aware of our language when discussing our disabled community
• The difference between identity-first vs person-first language
• How disabled people are dismissed and silenced at church
• Types of ableist language used at church
• What it means to be made in the image of God (even in our disabilities)
• How our disabled bodies become a theological problem for some believers
• Why church leaders fought against the Americans with Disability Act
• Ways that churches can improve accessibility for disabled people
• Encouragement for disabled people who have been dismissed at church
• Advice for church members who want to love and support disabled people
• Sneaky ways ableism shows up at church
• Understanding our disabled God
• Ways to take a disability lens when reading scripture
Amy Kenny (PhD, University of Sussex) is a disabled scholar and a Shakespeare lecturer whose research focuses on medical and bodily themes in literature. Her work has been featured in Teen Vogue, The Mighty, The Audacity, and Sojourners. Follow her on Twitter.
What can we do to make our churches more inclusive for our disabled and neurodiverse communities?
Dr. Lamar Hardwick’s fantastic book “Disability And The Church: A Vision For Diversity And Inclusion” provides insights into the life of a pastor with autism and ways that churches can begin removing barriers for people on the autism spectrum or those with any other disability.
Dr. Hardwick reminds us that “people with disabilities live in a world that is not built for them. And the vast majority of churches are not built with disabled bodies in mind.”
His book provides insights into many of the barriers that churches have unintentionally created for people with disabilities (especially invisible disabilities) — and steps that churches need to take to build a more empathetic church culture.
Dr. Hardwick says “affirmation of people with disabilities in the church begins with making the type of accommodations necessary for them to be able to pursue their God-given calling (172). And his book is chockfull of practical insights for ministry leaders who want to make their spiritual homes more inclusive for disabled people (and how to get funding for disability ministries).
Dr. Hardwick doesn’t just provide a strategies for church leaders on ways to build more inclusive spiritual homes, he also provides us with a view of church and spirituality through the eyes of disability. He writes about the importance of disability theology and reminds us on how the crucifixion of Jesus reveals a God who is disabled (and what the permanent scars after the resurrection signifies).
Are you curious on how to better love and support our hurting Black communities?
Pastors Duke L. Kwon and Dr. Gregory Thompson build a historical and theological case for reparations — and address the various thefts of white supremacy that continue to hurt our Black communities in their latest book: Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair.
This is a book that will open your eyes to the systemic sins of racism and white supremacy in the United States, which continue to cause racial brokenness and social inequities.
It’s also a book that will bring you awareness of Black pain and the Christian calling to bring about healing and reconciliation.
The complicated and sinful history of racism in the United States and impact today doesn’t have an easy solution.
This isn’t a book designed to give you step-by-step directions on how reparations should work; it’s theological framework to help you think creatively on how to love and care for our oppressed and marginalized communities hurting due to racial brokenness.
No doubt, there are dozens of arguments against reparations — and many Christian leaders debate this issue.
Some critics argue that reparations is unjust (and therefore immoral) to require people who had nothing to do with slave ownership or racial injustices of the past to be liable for those sins today. Others argue that it’s impractical to figure out economically who should be compensated (along with who should pay and for how long).
Many of the arguments in favor or against reparations use justice as the chief aim. How do we determine a just way to address systemic sins and racial injustice?
Duke L. Kwon and Dr. Gregory Thompson reveal how the Christian’s call to bring about racial healing is more than an economic conversation — and moves far beyond what is the most equitable response. They provide a Christian vision of compassion, love and why the church ought to be caring for those who are hurting. It’s about opening our eyes and hearts to the Black pain around us and finding ways to bring healing in our own communities.
In this podcast episode, Duke L. Kwon and Dr. Gregory Thompson talk about why they need to write a theological case for reparations, why it’s important to support and love hurting communities, reasons why Christians debate the reparations issue, ways church leaders and pastors can properly address systemic sins at church, how white supremacy is a theft of truth, power, and wealth, ways to talk with children about racism, and what the parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us about love and reparations.
“Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair” is published by Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
I pray this conversation encourages us to develop more empathy and find ways to help our hurting Black communities.
You can subscribe or download this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the video series on YouTube.
Most of the theology and church history that I’ve studied (and been exposed to) was passed along from the Western church tradition.
And I’ve been blessed to learn a lot from various theologians and thinkers like Julian of Norwich, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Spurgeon, Thomas Merton, C.S. Lewis, and N.T. Wright.
However, I never knew about the early church history and Christian tradition that developed in Africa, the Middle East and Asia — and how the beautiful Christian theology and spiritual traditions in these regions reveals how Christianity is not a product of the Western world.
In this podcast, Dr. Vince Bantu talks with us about early African Christianity and what led him to pursue academic research into the origins of Christianity in Egypt, Nubia and the continent of Africa.
He also discusses the need for ethnic representation in our churches, the sins and destructive impact of systemic racism and white supremacy in our church history, ways for us to better support our BIPOC church communities during times of tragedy and trauma, and the powerful faith and example that our Black church has set for all Christians. He also shares ways that parents can help raise anti-racist children.
You can subscribe or download this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the video series on YouTube.
The topic of immigration is a huge theme in our Hebrew Bible & New Testament scriptures.
Think about the story of Abraham being a foreigner in Egypt and Canaan, or Jacob moving his family to Egypt to reunite with Joseph, or the story of Israel being strangers in Egypt (and then being a displaced people wandering in the desert).
I mean, even the story of Esther is about an immigrant woman speaking up to protect her oppressed, immigrant community.
And, of course, we remember that Jesus was an immigrant and refugee.
The Bible is chockfull of stories of immigration and God’s people living in the margins. And there are countless commands in scripture to love and care for displaced people.
Here are just a few passages:
Deuteronomy 10:18-19: “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 19:34: “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizens among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
Ezekiel 47:22: “You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the aliens who reside among you and have begotten among you. They shall be to you as citizens of Israel; with you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.”
However, the the Biblical mandate to love and care for the foreigner is often debated by Christians as some have concerns on how immigrants and refugees can impact a nation’s economics, national security or their cultural identity.
So that’s why I was blessed to read “Refuge Reimagined: A Biblical Kinship In Global Politics” by Dr. Mark R. Glanville and Dr. Luke Glanville.
In Refuge Reimagined, Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville offer a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. God’s people, they argue, are consistently called to extend kinship—a mutual responsibility and solidarity—to those who are marginalized and without a home. Drawing on their respective expertise in Old Testament studies and international relations, the two brothers engage a range of disciplines to demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.
I had an opportunity to chat with them about their new book and ways to better love and care for our immigrant and refugee communities. You can subscribe or download this episode on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the video series on YouTube.
Here are some video clips from our conversation:
We’ve been examining the ways our theology and personal faith evolves — and how oppression, disability, trauma and racism can shift the way we understand God, our scriptures and ourselves.
Today, we’re going to be focused specifically on addressing the marginalization and oppression of our Asian American communities — and how living in a liminal space (sometimes not accepted as fully American or fully Asian) has shaped Asian American theology and helped us to better understand our God who dwells in liminal spaces, too.
And we’re grateful to learn from Dr. Russell Jeung, a leading sociologist of Asian American identity, race, and religion. He is also professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University and author of many books focused on race and religion — including “Sustaining Faith Traditions: Race, Ethnicity, and Religion among the Latino and Asian American Second Generation” that he wrote with Carolyn Chen, published by NYU Press.
In 2020, Dr. Jeung launched Stop AAPI Hate, a project of Chinese for Affirmative Action, the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, and SF State Asian American Studies. It tracks Covid-19 related discrimination in order to develop community resources and policy interventions to fight racism. His spiritual memoir, At Home in Exile: Finding Jesus Among My Ancestors and Refugee Neighbors, shares his experiences living among the foreigner and the poor.
In this podcast and video, Dr. Jeung talks with us about Asian American identity, the history of Asian American studies, the formation of Asian American theology and how churches have responded to Anti-Asian American racism. He also discusses how he’s tracking the rise of racism and hate crimes during COVID-19 with the STOP AAPI Hate project.
You can subscribe or download this discussion on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe to the video series on YouTube.
As you know, we’ve been living in a tragic time in our country amid COVID-19, political turmoil, friends and family members losing jobs, domestic violence increasing, and we’re seeing more violent examples of xenophobia, racism, and white supremacy around us.
A few weeks ago, we witnessed domestic terrorists invade our U.S. Capitol, people waving confederate flags and nooses to incite more violence, and “religious” people holding crosses, blowing Shofars, and plenty of signage with Bible verses to help incite more election anger and protests.
As a Christian, it’s absolutely appalling to see people use God’s name to incite violence and insurrection. Sadly, it’s another reminder of our church’s history of causing trauma.
People are hurting — especially our marginalized and immigrant communities. And the church has a responsibility to address these atrocities and be part of the healing process. And that’s why I’m grateful to have Dr. Robert Chao Romero as our guest on the podcast.
Dr. Romero is a historian and professor in the Departments of Chicana/o Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of California, UCLA. Dr. Romero has a unique perspective on social justice as an attorney, pastor, historian, and the son of a Mexican father and Chinese immigrant mother.
His academic research is focused on issues of race, immigration, history and religion — and his last book “The Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina/o Social Justice, Theology & Identity” discusses the various ways our Hispanic church has fought oppression, slavery and other social justice issues.
Spirituality & Social Justice
