New: Nov. 27 TLC Online

The Nov. 27 edition of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers. In this issue three essays reflect on Donald J. Trump’s election as the 45th President of the United States.

Jordan Hylden writes:

We Americans live in a country in which more and more people have more and more fears, and fewer securities. By some measures we are more free than we have ever been, but we are also more alone. We are free to do anything we wish, but more and more of us doubt that anything we do can make a difference. Trump voters in West Virginia, Bernie voters in California, Occupy Wall Street activists in New York, and Black Lives Matter activists in Missouri, all agree: the system is rigged.

Christopher Wells writes:

The whole world is now witnessing major political shifts amid continued decline of confidence in institutions, massive migrations, and widening disparities of opportunity and resource between north and south and between the privileged few and the great majority in every nation. In such a context of destabilization, questions of law and order and fear of the Other naturally arise. Sadly, so does devolved political discourse, as too many turn to silos of right thought, carefully curated on social media and in our preferred neighborhoods, schools, and defined and defended churches.

Ian S. Markham writes:

In the next few months and years, countless attempts will be made to understand this extraordinary election cycle; few pundits imagined that a real-estate tycoon and TV celebrity could sweep aside the Republican Establishment and then beat the Clinton machine in the General Election. The center of gravity of the Episcopal Church is firmly identified with progressive social causes. We have, in recent years, taken pride in our decisions on LGBT issues; we are delighted to have elected our first woman Presiding Bishop, then followed by the first African American. We have enjoyed telling ourselves that demographics (both in terms of American cultural diversity and the worldview of Millennials) are on our side. If any faith tradition can make it in urban, diverse, progressive America, we have felt that we can.

Then Trump won, and many are reeling.

News

  • Diocese of Indianapolis Picks Baskerville-Burrows

Features

Reflections on the Presidential Election

  • Free to Worship Him Without Fear | By Jordan Hylden
  • Five Narratives on Donald Trump | By Ian S. Markham
  • ‘Come Lord Jesus’; Get Back to Work | By Christopher Wells

Necessary or Expedient?

  • It’s Never Just About the Music | By Hannah Matis

Cultures

  • Celebration in Assisi | Photo essay by Matthew Townsend

Books

  • Just Love and Changing the Questions | Review by Stewart Clem
  • The Harp of Prophecy | Review by Kevin Dodge
  • Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John & Jude as Scripture | Review by Jon R. Jordan
  • Reading Sacred Scripture | Review by Cole Hartin
  • The Church in Exile | Review by Samuel Adams

Other Departments

  • People & Places
  • Sunday’s Readings

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