brian bantum

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again.
#Pinks #ProudBlue

Some new ICE recruits have shown up to training without full vetting The recruits have had criminal backgrounds or failed drug tests or were unable to meet physical or academic standards, raising concerns about the agency’s rush to hire immigration officers, sources to...

God forbid we accept lower standards or take in a wide range of criteria for acceptance? 🤢 www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

Why make things? I couldn’t afford a nice bookshelf, and I couldn’t bring myself to buy a cheap one. So I headed to the hardware...

“It had been so long since I’d made something that I had begun to forget: Every quick-build shelf or prepackaged meal or AI response bears the hidden cost of what I didn’t get to learn.”

– @brianbantum.bsky.social

www.christiancentury.org/voices/why-m...

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE.

This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined.

It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

screenshot of a Facebook post by Corey Robin, which says: "By the way, did you all notice how Zohran made affordability a central issue of his campaign without selling out trans kids or shitting on immigrants? Might be some lessons there. Just a thought."

he's right and he's right to say it

Insecurity and the problem of evil One of my more shameful memories comes from my time coaching youth soccer as a...

“I wonder if the evils of our world—whether they be individual acts toward one another or the more insidious social structures that we grow within and nurture—tend to be grounded in the insecurities we refuse to acknowledge.”

– @brianbantum.bsky.social

www.christiancentury.org/voices/insec...

where we can all have those chances to pursue a call, support our family, work towards more than survival, taste and see a flourishing life. And it certainly isn’t too much to demand an end to the malevolence that actively works against people’s survival, much less their flourishing.

to make a few extra dollars to make ends meet, a job cobbled together from pieces, two jobs that let me pursue a call and still support my family. And I could go on and on. I don’t think it’s too much to hope for a world

And I’ve known too many moments where the world seemed to hum while my little corner of life felt like it was crumbling. But I also know I’m not here at this moment, that there is no joy or flourishing or space to be without folks (too many to name) that made a way for me…

it’s a strange thing to feel the wind on your face and the sun on your back, to even say you feel like you’ve found a little pocket of joy, and know the world is what it is.

The substance of small things I’ve seen Hope and change mean something different to me now than they did in...

“Looking back on those early years of pessimism, I realize the choice I had was not a matter of belief or disbelief in what could change. I realize I was making a constant decision to discount the witness of those who had changed.”

– @brianbantum.bsky.social

God of breath and gravity “Who is God?” Today, God is the rising and falling of my...

A friendly reminder to breathe today… www.christiancentury.org/voices/god-b...

in the midst of our own packing we’ve been helping our kids move and get settled into their own lives. The last one drove off with the last truck load of things tonight and the house is so, so quiet. It’s all the things.

Far-right pundit rails against women in law enforcement: ‘It’s an absurdity!’ ‘If we’re being honest, female cops are absurd. It’s an absurdity. I’m sorry. It’s just ridiculous. It’s cartoonish,’ Matt Walsh ranted on his podcast this week

This entire project is *very expliclty* about fully purging black people and women from huge swaths of public life, employment and education.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

one reason democrats should cut the “we just want to work together” shit is that you lose the opportunity to do things like, for instance, hold a loud press conference on the fact that trumps ICE thugs arrested a veteran www.newarknj.gov/news/mayor-r...

These anti-dei initiatives (and the whistleblower hotlines) feel like they are really intended to cast doubt and suspicion on the legitimacy of any non-white presence in government and corporate life. Chilling.

Slowly saying goodbye to the PNW…

Been a weird riding year and a few weeks since I’ve been able to get outside. Thankful for better health and a sunny day. #cycling #seattle

grassy field overlooking the sound with clouds

black dog with white markings on a grassy field overlooking water

2:45pm and already feeling dark. At least the pnw is being pretty about it.

Been trying to just make stuff, try new things, make some marks.

The current of time This is what is scary about any future: we simply don’t know, and it flies toward us anyway.

Some thoughts on the between times we are living in. www.christiancentury.org/voices/stret...

Hope folks are finding ways to find a little peace today.

Sad to miss folks at AAR/SBL this year (especially in San Diego). I'm taking advantage of my sabbatical this Fall to not be on a plane and let myself write and rest a bit. See y'all next year!

This is why I said we needed to hold off on the day-after hot takes about What The Election Means.

We still don’t have all the numbers but it’s clear any talk of a “mandate” was wildly overblown.

He won, yes. But only narrowly.

What up, friend!

a black a beige dog standing on fall leaves in front of trees and a lake

So it seems like we introduce ourselves? I’m a professor of theology and I teach and write about race, identity and Christian life. I’m a so-so artist and an above average cyclist, a pastor’s spouse, have 3 adult children, and a dog dad. Mostly I just want people to be able to live free.

Just checking out the scene here. Left the other place a while ago, but still looking for a place to connect and listen to what folks are talking about and seeing in their corners of the world.