Prayer and Social Action — George Müller

When I started my Lent series on social justice at Spectrum a couple years ago, I started with the topic of prayer. Here’s a quote from that article: In preparing for social action, there is one element that should be prioritized—prayer. Because of its importance, this week’s practical step is to pray. Shane Claiborne and [...]

Daniel Buttry, Baptist Peacemaker

Tonight I had the privilege of attending a nearly two-hour presentation and meet-n-greet with peacemaking activist, theologian and missionary, Dan Buttry. In a Christian Peacemaking independent study I did last year, two of the books I used were by Dan–Christian Peacemaking (1994) and Peace Ministry: A Handbook for Local Churches (1995). I recommend both. This [...]

Where is my allegiance and focus?

Here is a lengthy quote from Neither Poverty Nor Riches (Blomberg, 1999): For the Christian, public policies at home and abroad can never be based primarily on what is in one’s ‘national interest’, as the rhetoric of most politicians regularly alleges. Rather, we must ask what is in the interest of all humanity, materially and [...]

SDA Books

What SDA books are of special interest to Adventist Activists? Here’s a starter list: Adventism & the American Republic (Morgan, 2001) Anarchy and Apocalypse (Osborn, 2010) Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howard’s Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power (Beito & Beito, 2009) Building Peace: Overcoming Violence In Communities (Holsopple, Krall, & Pittman, 2005) Caring is Not a Spectator [...]

Peace Theology

On Friday a friend asked me what I meant by “peace theology” in relation to a class I had just completed in Central America. I wrote the following response (with a few subsequent revisions) while sitting in a coffee shop waiting for my wife to get off work. This location meant I didn’t have books [...]

Two SDA Books

In his most recent AToday blog post–Adventists and Social Justice–Monte Sahlin mentions two books that interest me. Black Maverick: T. R. M. Howard’s Fight for Civil Rights and Economic Power by D. T. and L. R. Beito (2009, University of Illinois Press). It’s about “an African American Adventist physician…who became a major activist in the [...]

Boulder (CO) & Project 5:2

Boulder SDA Church & Social Justice Kevin Bowen and I recently had a conversation via Skype regarding social justice. Kevin is a pastor at the Boulder SDA Church (CO), and he wanted to include portions of our conversation for a sermon to be preached there (Project 5:2). He warned me about some of the questions, [...]

Faith beyond Borders — Adv Today Review

My review of Faith beyond Borders is now posted at Adventist Today. Though this statement does not appear in said review: I loved this book. Read it, yo. Art Gish, a life-long peace activist who died this past summer, once quipped, “Anyone can be a young radical. Where are the old radicals?”[1] Now well beyond [...]

Lewis C. Sheafe: Apostle to Black America

When I received the following message from Doug Morgan, I asked to post it on our blog since Sheafe was dedicated to social issues rather than a stripped-down version of the gospel: I’m pleased to announce publication of my new book, Lewis C. Sheafe: Apostle to Black America, the sixth biography in the Review and [...]

Christian Nonviolence

While neither written by nor about Adventists, the following 5 essays on Christian nonviolence may be informative for SDAs considering issues of peace advocacy, military participation or social change: Christian Nonviolence (Walter Wink, Z Net, Dec 17, 2004). Wink is the author of Jesus and Nonviolence, Engaging the Power, Unmasking the Powers, & Naming the [...]