Liz Cooledge Jenkins

Tag: race & anti-racist work

  • Who’s turning over some tables already? A sermon on John 2:13-22 (part 2)

    Hi friends, Last week I shared the first half of a sermon on John 2:13-22, imagining what it might have been like to be among the crowd of folks coming to the temple to worship, when all of a sudden, Jesus starts turning over tables.  Here’s part 2! ____ I wonder what kinds of perspectives…

  • What are you currently learning? (Part of) a sermon on Acts 10:1-23

    Hi friends, I recently got to preach at my church on Acts 10:1-23. Peter and Cornelius, what a story. I’d encourage you to take a look at the passage here. The church service is also recorded here (and the sermon starts here around 56:53). The way I see it, there are three main thoughts that…

  • What exactly broke the world? Reflections on Fortune by Lisa Sharon Harper

    Hi friends, Something I love about Lisa Sharon Harper’s recent-ish book Fortune is that it raises—and then unpacks—this question: What exactly broke our world? I think this is a crucial question. But it’s not always one that we talk about—at least not with nearly enough specificity. In my experience in Christian circles, in particular, people…

  • Individualism twists our understanding of injustice

    Hi friends, Ally Henny was an (online) classmate of mine in seminary, and I’ve appreciated her voice on social media ever since. But I hadn’t really read much of her (non-social-media) writing until now.  I just read her recently released book, I Won’t Shut Up: Finding Your Voice When the World Tries to Silence You.…

  • Super chill book review part 2: Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

    Hi friends, I’m back with a few more thoughts and quotes from The Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey’s book Rest is Resistance. (Check out part 1 if you missed it.) I continue to reflect on all these things. If you’re thinking about them too, let’s connect—drop a comment or email if you like. Starting where we…

  • Race-based affirmative action: what’s in it for white folks?

    Hi friends, I want to say a little more about affirmative action. I feel like this is one of those things that, for some of us—that is, for those of us who don’t feel like we’re directly impacted—that is, for those of us who are white (and/or perhaps Asian American?)—it might be easy to move…

  • Can I get a witness? …Or, perhaps, a community of solidarity?

    Hi friends, I don’t know that white folks’ voices should be front and center in the affirmative action conversation, but I will just say briefly that the SCOTUS decision harms us all. Black and brown kids deserve to be able to go to college. And colleges are better learning environments when they have a diverse…

  • “You are a Samaritan and you have a demon” – reflections on other-ing, compassion, and discernment

    The [religious leaders] answered and said to [Jesus], “Do we not speak well that you are a Samaritan and you have a demon?” -John 8:48 (my translation) Sometimes when I’m translating New Testament passages from Greek, a phrase jumps out at me like I’ve never really seen it before, even though I’m sure I’ve read…

  • Super chill book review: God is a Black Woman (Christena Cleveland)

    God is a Black Woman by Christena Cleveland (HarperOne, 2022)—what a book. It’s basically a mix of spot-on critiques of what Cleveland calls whitemalegod (you may know the one) and compelling explorations of what it can look like to ditch whitemalegod and seek the Sacred Black Feminine instead.   I was a fan of Cleveland’s work…

  • New post at Feminism & Religion

    Just got done with a Zoom book discussion of Kyla Schuller’s The Trouble with White Women: A Counterhistory of Feminism. What a book. Definitely “super chill book review” material, so keep on the lookout for that sometime soon-ish. (And spoiler alert: as a white woman, I didn’t feel nearly as offended as the title might…