If you feel overwhelmed, it’s because we face an overwhelming situation.

For months, leftists have been pointing out the absurdity of the claim that Barack Obama is a socialist. But no matter how laughable, the claim keeps popping up, most recently in the form of the Republican Party chairman’s warning of “a socialist power grab” by Democrats.

Honoring President Obama’s request that the controversy involving a black Harvard University professor and a white Cambridge police officer become “a teachable moment,” here’s my contribution to an old lesson that we white people tend to be slow to learn.

Becoming a radical: The grief and the joy
Becoming radicalized politically allowed me to see that I was suffering because I didn’t want to fit into a world shaped by unjust systems; the problem wasn’t my values and desires but the pathology of those systems.

Conversations about race in places like Cape Town sound eerily similar to those happening in the United States.

“What is the most important challenge facing women in the 21st century, and why?”

That one isn’t easy for anyone to answer, especially in 300 words or less. But that was the assignment from editors of the University of Texas’ web site for faculty members contributing to the “Many Voices of Feminism” collection

My book All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path to the Prophetic Voice (Soft Skull Press, 2009) offers a radical approach to Christian theology. Because the book is currently not in stock, the publisher has given me permission to make available a free PDF of the book.