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From the Archives: February 1976
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IN TERMS, America has tried to heal itself. The Civil War took place in the 1860s. The civil rights movement took place in the 1960s. From America’s two biggest domestic conflicts emerge three main elements: the first, a group of people, primarily white, the majority and ruling group in society. Let’s call this group the “Land of the Free”; the second, also a group of people, but a minority, primarily black, originally from Africa, the “Other America”; and the third element of our simplified history is the slavery and poverty that divides the first group from the second and which we will call the “Wall.” ...
There are several questions I must ask myself if I am to be a Christian in America today. One that gives me a great sense of urgency is this: “If change only comes after confrontation and violence, what type of confrontation is needed to make the country livable for all people?”
What Sustains Me
Seventeen activists and church leaders talk about the disciplines that keep them girded for the struggle.
Stoning the Prophets
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist who led the Manhattan Project which developed the atom bomb, made a television statement just before he died in 1967. I remember his face as he spoke.
Our Minority and God's Majority
"God + me = a majority." There is real power in this statement.
The Reconciled Community in a World at War
The church as antagonist or peacemaker.
The Hope and Cost of Reconciliation
The real hope of reconciliation between races and cultures in our world is wrapped up in how we, the people of God, see ourselves.
Rich Man, Poor Man
"Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me." These words in the 12th chapter of Luke begin one of the most relevant discourses of Jesus for today.
A Declaration Revisited
One of the ever-present sights this bicentennial year has been the Declaration of Independence.
Commitment and Responsibility
Debtor. It's a word that implies obligation, responsibility.
Individualism: Antithetical to Community
Individualism in our society, as I look at it today, is the greatest threat to an understanding of the church and the meaning of being a Christian.
Relocation, Reconciliation, and Redistribution
We are living in a unique and hopeful time in history, when the dynamic of the church as the continuation of Christ’s body on earth is being rediscovered.
A Strategy for Change