Word&Way News: Dec. 1
Here’s the weekly roundup from Word&Way. In addition to a review of a new book on cable news that is free for anyone to read, paid subscribers to A Public Witness received a look at anti-refugee rhetoric flaring back up.
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Top 5 at wordandway.org
Review: Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You. Robert D. Cornwall reviewed Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You: A Field Guide to the Bible by Daniel Cooperrider.
Why ‘Vermin’ Can’t Be Tolerated. Rodney Kennedy wrote about the problems with rhetoric employed recently by former President Donald Trump.
Bethlehem Pastors Arrive in D.C., Urge Lawmakers to Embrace Cease-Fire, Peace Plan. Jack Jenkins reported on an advocacy trip this week by Palestinian pastors.
A Film Sheds Light on 11 Daring Women Whose Defiant Act Changed the Episcopal Church. Yonat Shimron reported on the new documentary The Philadelphia Eleven.
Leading African Ecumenical Group Elects First Female President. Rev. Lydia Chituku Neshangwe, a Presbyterian minister, is the first woman to lead the All Africa Conference of Churches.
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Podcasts
Our show Baptist Without An Adjective featured a conversation with Nabeeh Abbassi, president of the Jordan Baptist Convention.
Historians Catherine Brekus and Mark Edwards appeared on Religion in the American Experience to talk about the history of Christian Nationalism.
Irish poet and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama joined Faith for Normal People to talk about poetry and the Bible.
by Brian Kaylor, Word&Way Editor-in-Chief
Earlier this week, the Washington National Cathedral announced the schedule for its Advent and Christmas events — and then quickly found itself on the naughty list. The WNC rolled out a ticketing system for crowd control, which isn’t unusual for churches, museums, and other places that are free to attend. But in this case, the WNC was charging $7 per ticket, including for communion services.
The criticism quickly snowballed on social media, including from fellow Episcopalians and other Christians who share the WNC’s progressive values (and I’ll confess I posted a negative remark about it online). To their credit, the WNC the next day reversed course and removed the fee attached to the tickets. They’re still requiring the reservations to make sure they don’t have too many people show up, but the tickets are free.
The incident is a great reminder for us all to be careful about unintended messages we might send with our church promotions. It’s easy to give into the temptations of commercialism and entertainment of this season. (Fortunately, the WNC isn’t planning to have flying drummer angels). Let’s make sure we don’t lose sight of the good news given freely to all that came in that simple manger 2,000 years ago.
Other News of Note
Jim Saksa of Roll Call talked about faith and politics with Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio, who is Jewish and has a master’s in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School.
Samuel Benson of Deseret News reported that Vivek Ramaswamy is trying to win over evangelical voters in Iowa by hiring two former Latter-day Saint missionaries who previously worked for Mitt Romney.
CNN reported Speaker Mike Johnson wrote the forward for a book filled with conspiracy theories (and written by a frequent speaker at ReAwaken America Tour events).
A biblical allusion by Ireland’s prime minister sparked outrage from Israeli politicians who didn’t get the reference.
“Our places of worship must under no circumstances be used for political propaganda.” —Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they warned about the dangers of “tribalism, nepotism, and vote-buying” in the upcoming presidential election.
Jayson Casper of Christianity Today reported on the difficult journey of a Baptist pastor’s family out of Gaza.
A Catholic priest in New York is in trouble after allowing pop star Sabrina Carpenter to film part of a music video in the sanctuary.
The pastor of an independent Baptist church in Indiana is apologizing for inviting someone to speak about creationism even though he had long hair and allegedly quoted from the NIV translation of the Bible.
The Catholic Weekly reported on a Franciscan friar creating Nativity sets out of Legos.
The Substack newsletter The Counteroffensive reported about Ukrainian nuns in an Orthodox church in Jerusalem that Russia is trying to claim control over:
Photo of the Week
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