The etymology of the term radical is from the Latin radix, “root”; if we want to get to the root of anything we must be radical. Radical Discipleship is about nothing more and nothing less than laying bare the roots of the personal and socio-political pathologies of our imperial society and its dead-end history, even as we seek to recover the roots of our deep biblical tradition: namely, the messianic movement of rebellion and restoration, of repentance and renewal, a “Way out of no way” that has been going on since the dawn of resistance to the dusk of empire.
Note: Elaine and I returned a week ago from twelve days in the Azores Islands, a long-awaited journey to explore my roots. As we approach the All Saints Triduum, it is a good time to launch a series of reflections on this pilgrimage, which will run through this last quarter of the year (including as…
Like many of us, I took time to reflect during the 9/11 quarter-century commemoration. That horrible moment understandably became a critical inflection point for U.S. politics and culture. Yet it is estimated that a third of the current U.S. population was born after that fateful day, and so do not carry its existential weight (right,…
     Elaine and I take an annual summer sojourn to Saskatchewan to visit with friends, family and colleagues. We write this blog from her home-town of Saskatoon, and share below two highlights from this year’s adventure. Hosting a Canadian Debut of Cynthia Welik-Salgado’s “Beyond Borders”     Central to our time in SK was curating an…
From July 10-13 BCM and a local team hosted Fr. Emmanuel Asi of Maktaba-e-Anaveem PAK/People’s Forum for Contextual Theologies (right, a book launch at MAP). Asi is a leading promoter of liberation theology and women’s rights and empowerment throughout South Asia (see here and here). Andrew Jilani, a parishioner at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in…
BCM board member John Parker, who’s been rolling with us since 1999, always has his finger on the pulse of faith and justice work in North Carolina. He alerted us to the May 18 issue of the Alban Weekly, which gave our work a shout out (emphasis ours): As ministers and congregations bask in…
We invite you, in these hard days, to step away for a long weekend of replenishment through bible study, workshops, art, song, worship, ritual, campfires, imagining of new worlds, and the flowering beauty of the Pocono mountains in the spring.
Friends:    I first took a retreat at Our Lady of the Redwoods Abbey in Mendocino County, CA in the late 1970s. There I met two Cistercian monks who had deep impact on me. One was Mother Myriam Dardenne (1920–2010) , the first Abbess, who offered me the liberating affirmation that my study of scripture was a form…
PODCASTS: Our friend Ragan Sutterfeld just released an hour-long interview he did late last year with the Ekklesia Project about the Bible, Christian Zionism and the war on Palestine. He talks with Ched and our Canadian colleague Sylvia Keesmaat (right). Check it out here. We’re getting to know young Sabeel activist theologian Thanh Nguyen; Ched…
 Last Friday was the Feast of La Virgen de Guadalupe. At right is a retablo, a hybrid style of indigenous artistry, centuries of Catholic iconography, and Spanish culture. Retablos are small oil paintings on tin, zinc, wood, or copper which were used in home altars to honor saints.  This one has hung in our…
Last Sunday after Pentecost, 2025 This Sunday is the last one in Year C; after this (and after Thanksgiving) comes the first Sunday in Advent for Year A. It’s been fun (if challenging) to blog weekly from texts and themes in HARP; starting next week we’ll return to blogging twice a month. We hope you…