mourning
-
Sallie McFague: Sparker of Theological Imagination
We at WIT join the broader theological community in mourning the passing of Sallie McFague. As an important voice in the theological world for many decades, Sallie McFague has made an impression on many a bright-eyed student of theology. My… Continue reading
-
The Work of Mourning
Pastoral Reflections on Jacques Derrida’s The Work of Mourning(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002). In his beautiful series of reflections on the deaths of his friends and contemporaries (figures such as Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze and Sarah Kofman), Jacques Derrida writes… Continue reading
-
On Coffee Shops and Crucifixions
The extremity of the violence wounding the women at that table was breathtaking and unthinkable and contrary to the will of God who is a God of life, for sure, but it’s not singular. Such things happen all the time… Continue reading
-
On the Killing of Children
“Blessed the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock.” — Psalm 137:9 “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”… Continue reading
-
Reflections on Holy Saturday with Shelly Rambo
The problem with a typical narration of salvation is that we tend to have a linear understanding of redemption. We read the story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection in terms of a strong start, an awful middle, and an… Continue reading
-
A Church That Does Body Counts III
About two weeks ago, a U.S. led NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed seven civilians while they were going about their daily lives, working in their fields. Six of these seven civilians were children and five of these children were… Continue reading
-
Was It Worth It?
Let’s assume that Jesus never said, “love your enemies,” or “do good to those who persecute you.” Let’s forget that Jesus told Peter to put the sword away, (if you can’t use the sword to defend the life of Jesus,… Continue reading
-
The Cross and the Lynching Tree
In this 2007 interview with PBS’ Bill Moyers, James Cone argues that the lynching of African-Americans throughout the 19th and 20th centuries was an almost literal crucifixion because “the cross was a first century lynching.” Lynching, like the crucifixion, was a… Continue reading
-
Violence, Memory, and Mourning
When artists put into words non-dominant narratives of violence we are able to rehearse alternatives forms of remembering— forms of remembering which defy language as defined exclusively by the powerful, which resist a culture of secrecy and silence which is… Continue reading