In January, I spoke at the annual meeting of the Society for Christian Ethics by the invitation of my friend and colleague Grace Y. Kao. I’m not an ethicist. I’m a philosophical theologian. I specialize in thinking and writing about what people believe. I’m particularly interested in how our beliefs mesh the ways we understand…
Many people I know grow up in faith communities that discourage people from asking questions. I grew up in that kind of church. Of course, it didn’t work. I was learning to be a critical thinker in school and I had not yet learned to compartmentalize so I brought that critical thinking to Sunday school,…
Is this the hill to die on? I’m raising a preteen middle-schooler, and so I say this to myself at least twice a day as we negotiate, yes negotiate, time management, homework, sports, lessons, chores and video-gaming. I have clear values and principles and some concrete skills I want this kid to have in life….
It’s a fairly common idea. Because most of us try to understand unmerited suffering. Deep down (or not so deep down), most of us are okay with the suffering of people we think of as “bad” or “immoral.” We can even make peace when suffering seems to be the natural result of a poor decision….
Perhaps nothing is more personal or challenging in the life of faith than how we understand God in the face of suffering, loss and the death of a loved one. This June, I got to share how my faith sustains me in those times. At an academic conference. My first bit of summer travel was…
Writers will often say that we write our way into our stories. Or that, no matter the plan or outline, our stories or arguments unfold in the writing. That is definitely true for me. In the talk I gave in June entitled, “How Will Grandma Find Us?” I wrote myself into several new insights that…
In one of my first theology classes in divinity school, my professor the late Sallie McFague asked: If there were no heaven, would you still be a Christian? The question stopped me – and most of my classmates – in our tracks. Hmmm. It never occurred to me that there might not be a heaven….
“Acts of God.” When you sign those insurance forms, or really just about any contract, they indicate whose responsibilities are whose. And then they say, except for “acts of God.” These “acts of God” usually refer to unexpected unforeseen weather calamities – tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, huge storms. I’ve always found it curious how otherwise…
Explaining religion to my child was harder than I thought. I understood how to be religious with my family. We sang our prayers, went to worship and dressed up. Lord knows that taking a baby to a church that was 45 minutes away was essentially a day trip with snacks and clothing changes. We talked…
How does it feel to be a problem? W. E. B. DuBois posed this question in the essay “Our Spiritual Strivings” in The Souls of Black Folk. DuBois was referring to the ways in which African Americans were understood by white American society in the early twentieth century. This quote came to mind last week…
Dr. Monica A. Coleman is an award-winning scholar, writer, and minister dedicated to the intersections of faith, social justice, and transformation. Through speaking, consulting, and writing, she empowers individuals and organizations to navigate change with purpose and integrity.
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