Jay Beck – Watershed Discipleship

Indigenous Justice & Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language | February 18–22, 2019

January 23, 2019June 4, 2019WD Editors

[Artwork: Wowasake kin slolyapo wowahwala he e: Know the Power of Peace, Diptych icon of Black Elk by Robert Two Bulls, artist-in-residence at this year’s Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute.]

This year’s Bartimaeus Kinsler Institute will consider the topic, “Indigenous Justice & Christian Faith: Land, Law, Language.” Held February 18–22, 2019 at Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries (BCM) in Oak View, CA (unceded Chumash Territory, Ventura River Watershed). Regular registration is open through January 27, and late registration will be available through February 3 (with a 10% extra fee). Read more →

Carnival de Resistance Photo Essay: reclaiming our sacred stories from Disney

June 24, 2018June 25, 2018Tim Nafziger

Photos and article by Tim Nafziger, Watershed Discipleship Editorial Team Member
Incorporating quotes curated by Jay Beck, Carnival de Resistance

Much of the landscape of America has been shaped by big brands. A strip mall in Boston is little different from one in Houston. McDonald’s has displaced the greasy spoon. Target has replaced the local clothing store. And in everyone’s hand is a smart phone from Apple or Samsung or Google.

This homogenization has warped our faith as well. Kelly Brown Douglas in “Black Christ” looks at how “slaveholder Christianity” become dominant among white evangelicals in the US through the 1700s and 1800s and has persisted long after the end of slavery. The focus on right belief (orthodoxy) over right practice (orthopraxy) began at least 1300 years ago when the emperor Constantine decided things would work better for the Roman empire if there was one “correct” line of belief rather than a variety of Christianities. Read more →