I first began writing this essay series way back in July of 2022, with the goal of unpacking a new vision of what a politics for the church can look like, in the wake of the destruction wrought b...
Way back when I started this series of essays, I set up a dichotomy, in the very first paragraph: “Contrasted against the work of social justice, charity is often viewed as simple good deeds th...
Meekness. Foolishness. Weakness. Humor. Fun. Stupid. These are just a few of the words I used in the previous essay to describe the way of the Christian in the midst of a world that is just takin...
In the essay posted Friday, I described how Stanley Hauerwas brings Scripture to bear in our thinking about the effectiveness of Christian action, specifically the tales of the Good Samaritan, an...
As I alluded to at the end of the last essay, we are at a turning point in this series, when we begin to turn from an extended critique of “effective” Christianity, and towards a vision of a ...
In the last essay in this series, we walked through two alternate and opposed readings of the Gospel of Luke, and specifically, how God’s work in the history of the world is interpreted. As we ...
https://justindametz.com/2024/04/08/the-weakness-of-god-the-politics-of-charity-part-four/
In opening his essay with a critique of liberation theology, Hauerwas was underscoring his main point: that Christian political engagement – and the theology under-girding it – is not judged ...
https://justindametz.com/2024/04/05/the-shaping-of-history-the-politics-of-charity-part-three/
Any long time reader of mine knows I have a deep affinity for liberation theology. My earliest ventures into theology were by reading the words of James Cone and Oscar Romero and Gustavo Gutierre...
This essay is the first in a series that I originally published on my now-defunct Substack newsletter in 2021-22. This series is near and dear to my heart, and so I wanted to reshare it here over...
https://justindametz.com/2024/04/01/the-politics-of-charity-2/
Growing up, my family attended a Lutheran church, of the Missouri Synod branch. I went through confirmation in this church, and got my first memorable church experiences there. My love for Script...
https://justindametz.com/2024/03/29/no-right-to-forgive-part-five-to-endure-the-cross/