Theology and Social Justice Resources

"Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." ~Proverbs 31:30

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2

Last year, the church I attend did a bible study through the book of Romans. I would recommend going to www.harvest.org/women and checking out the Women's Bible Fellowship link on the left side. It was a great encouragement to me throughout the year and also helped to convict me of some serious sin issues in my life. Romans 12:2 was one of those verses.

In the midst of this heated election season, CNN took time out to join Shane Claiborne on his Jesus for President book tour. They found younger evangelicals are ready to question the party line and embrace Jesus' radical message of reconciliation.

The seven deadly sins have traditionally been a private affair. But in an age of increasing global interdependence, the Catholic Church has added seven sins to the list which have a broader scope. The seven mortal sins of a globalized world include environmental pollution, drug trafficking, and inflicting poverty.

Last night Jim Wallis spoke at the historic Park Street Church about hope. Though we have mountains to move - poverty both global and domestic, climate change, sex trafficking - we have Christ's promise that our faith can move mountains. The Gospel always comes as good news in the midst of bad news; it does not ignore the evils of our world, but it creates a new order in which those evils can no longer stand.

If evangelicalism is not longer defined by Falwell, Robertson, or D. James Kennedy, then who is it defined by? Recently, Beliefnet convened a group of journalists and public evangelicals to sort out how Gospel faith is exercised in the public sphere.

In this conversation, at least, evangelicals seemed willing to renounce the temptations of power to become a "counterculture for the common good."

God has planned throughout history to bring His Gospel to the nations. At last Saturday's ACMC conference, Tom Telford identified 7 missional characteristics of the apostolic church, and then suggested 10 ways in which churches today can strengthen their missions commitment.

You know things are changing in the evangelical world when the New York Times takes notice.

This Sunday, the New York Times Magazine published a feature article titled "The Evangelical Crackup." It's a quite lengthy and well-researched piece detailing how many evangelicals are waking up to the reality that God's social concerns are broader than the platform of the Republican Party.

If you don't have the time to read all 10 pages of the article, Jim Wallis has the highlights.