Articles

What does gentrification look like to a community living inside of it? Brau and Vasquez from Luther Place Memorial Church explore the congregation’s response to gentrification in Washington D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood. N Street Village ministries was founded out of the congregation to respond to the needs of the neighborhood. How does a congregation respond when poeple who are not impoverished move in, potentially forcing the poor out?​

Gentrification is a word that was relatively foreign to my vocabulary before moving to Chicago and beginning seminary. Growing up in small towns and suburbs the conversations surrounding housing issues, when they occur, are often “us and them” conversations. Or better yet, “here and there” conversations. It can be quite easy to live in a suburban development and never see or think about housing inequality. Upon beginning my studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC) I was immersed into a zealous social justice oriented atmosphere. Housing inequality in the neighborhoods surrounding LSTC specifically and the city of Chicago in general is something that most people acknowledge, but see as too large or systemic to counteract. Still other issues, such as gentrification, are so nebulous that it seems easy to find but difficult to properly define. Gentrification is one small aspect of the housing equality and social responsibility discussions, and will be the focus of this month’s issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics. The topic of “Gentrification and Faith” is pursued this month because it seems to be a chimera; people are often quick to identify areas as gentrifying but when it comes to identifying related data, the numbers often either tell a different story, or describe a trend that has already taken place.​

How does the language we use to describe immigrants and migrants reflect the way in which they have been dehumanized in our society, and in fact contribute to that dehumanization? As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves, and looking at Scripture, there are many stories of migrants who we lift up as prophets. Pérez-Álvarez also examines the history of Mesoamerica and the fact that history has been obfuscated in favor of political gain. Invoking Galatians, he calls on Christians to put aside semantics in order to see reality and seek justice.

Robert F. Shedinger, Jesus and Jihad: Reclaiming the Prophetic Heart of Christianity and Islam. Eugene. Oregon: Cascade Books, 2015, 176 Pages, $21.00.

[1] Much attention globally is being given to the life and thought of Jonathan Edwards. The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale is an excellent gateway to much of this activity. Yale University is to be commended for making available his works, with accompanying scholarly introductions, in twenty-six printed volumes as well as in digital format. […]

When churches love and serve people through works of mercy, they are often treating a symptom of the disease of injustice. Salvatierra argues that in addition to loving mercy, Christians must do justice. She lifts up Faith-Rooted Organizing model as a way to engage Christians with a theology of justice that is engages a compassionate attitude with a systemic understanding of injustice. Salvatierra ends by calling on readers to become prophets proclaiming a common vision for our world, working against the cause of the illness, not just the symptoms.

Register now for ‘Security and Vulnerability in the Light of Global Realities:​ Living in the Shadow of Empire,” this year’s Lutheran Ethicists’ Gathering. (Registration ends December 30, 2014.) This event of the ELCA’s Theological Discernment Team (January 6 & 7, 2015 at the Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, Canada) annually brings together ethically attentive Christians whether ethicists, pastors, chaplains, teachers, or lay people. This year’s program features Canadian perspectives on security and vulnerability.

How shall we respond to the stranger knocking at our door? What should our answer be to the plight of the refugee desperate for a safe haven or to the immigrant seeking refuge among us, fleeing violence and poverty in their home country. How shall we respond when we know that we are not totally innocent from the causes that have created the humanitarian crises consuming the Middle East, Central America, and so many African countries. And what shall we do when the stranger knocking at the door is viewed with suspicion and fear by many among our own?

En este articulo la Revda. Alexia Salvatierra nos advierte que cuando las iglesias solamente se enfocan en obras de caridad sólo están atendiendo los síntomas de nuestros problemas sociales pero no sus causas. Como pastora y activista, Salvatierra nos llama la atención a la necesidad de ir más allá de las obras de misericordia, también hay que luchar por la justicia social. Ella nos presenta el modelo de “Faith Rooted Organizing” (activismo centrado en la fe) como una alternativa cristiana a los modelos seculares de activismo. Este modelo nos permite ser inocentes como palomes y a la vez astutos como serpientes para el bienhestar de los más necesitados. Es bueno darle pescado a los hambrientos, y mucho más enseñarles a pescar, dice Salvatierra, pero también hay que quitar los muros que han construido alrededor del lago donde estan los peces. Este articulo presenta un modelo para una pastoral de activismo social evangé​lico.

Heidi B. Neumark, Hidden Inheritance: Family Secrets, Memory, and Faith. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015. 213+xviii pp. $24.99 (hardcover). $16.99 (paperback).