Communicating Jesus’s Liberating Love Amidst Hostile Powers (original) (raw)
Related papers
Acts 16:16-40 as a Framework for Prison Theology
2022
Prison theology is a relatively new field that addresses the way the Christian faith speaks to those involved with the criminal justice system. Although the church has always ministered in prison, it has yet to develop a robust theology of prison. In this paper, I propose Acts 16:16–40—which recounts when Paul and Silas are thrown into a Roman prison after performing a miracle—as a framework for prison theology. I begin with a survey of the contemporary literature on prison theology. I then offer an exegesis of the Acts 16:16–40 narrative and discuss how that narrative can function as a framework for prison theology. In the final section, I address some challenges and limitations to my proposal
1996
Purpose: In an effort to reduce recidivism among Kent County ex-offenders, Central Bible Ministries of Michigan proposes an ex-offender rehabilitation program under which to coordinate a coalition of existing Kent County organizations established to meet the aftercare and rehabilitative needs of area ex-offenders. This research centers upon exploring the causes of recidivism and determining the sociological ramifications of imprisonment on the ex-offender and his/her family. Results will identify the needs of ex-offenders upon re-entering the societal mainstream and examine what resources are available in the Kent County area to meet those needs. Nature of the Problem: Between 1980 and 1993 the national inmate population rose 187%. In 1993, 80% of state prisoners were recidivists. In 1991, 36,423 male and female inmates were released from Michigan State and federal prisons. If the Bureau of Justice Statistics projections held true 28,410 of them returned to prison for other offenses...
Paper for the 2016 Society of Scholar Priests Conference. According to the contemporary Anglican theologian David Ford, “prophetic scriptural wisdom is inextricably involved with the discernment of cries.” In this paper, I examine how the project of “bringing theology home” could benefit from a renewed focus on attending to the cries of imprisoned men and women. I begin by offering a brief overview and critique of the rationale that led to the creation of the penitentiary system in the United States. In doing so, I draw attention to some assumptions implicit with the Book of Common Prayer rites for the Visitation of Prisoners published around the same time. I then turn to contemporary examples from my experience serving as a chaplain in a maximum security prison: teaching theology classes in which we discussed works like Augustine’s Confessions. I conclude with a reflection on certain insights and exchanges from two theology seminars conducted in the prison by David and Deborah Ford.
2021
The biblical books of Acts (12:1; 12:5), Matthew (11:12) and Romans (16:7) all speak of the apostles Peter, Paul and John interacting in prison discipleship with other followers of Christ. These references are the first documentation of New Testament prison chaplaincy, and the Gospel of Matthew (25:36) goes even further, admonishing Christians to be actively involved in assisting prisoners in the place of their incarceration. Thus, prison chaplaincy has a long history and remains a fundamental right of prisoners (UN-OHCHR 1977). The significance of prison chaplaincy is particularly noted in the context of growing incarceration trends in Australia, which have seen adult prisoner populations increase significantly in the last decade to a total of more than 43,000 inmates (ABS 2019). Meanwhile recidivism has remained steady at 40% over the last 5 years (QCS 2019). Importantly, budget restraints have occasioned cutbacks in therapeutic and rehabilitation programs, thus resulting in a situation that is leaving a growing number of inmates with fewer restorative and rehabilitative opportunities. Furthermore, illiteracy rates remain high within prisons and only a limited number of inmates can read. It is against this background that art therapy is highlighted as an effective communication tool and therapeutic practice in prison environments. Art is also prevalent in the Bible and visual communication was used not only by Jesus but also by the early Church to communicate the biblical stories to different cultures. Through experiences both inside and out, the
Building Skills Behind Bars: The Biblical Case for a Constructive Prison Culture
Journal of Christian Legal Thought, 2017
"Though America’s correctional system has grown at an alarming rate and fails to effectively deter future crime, we can help repair this broken system by implementing a biblically-based understanding of crime and incarceration. One critical and practical step is to support educational and workforce development programming in our correctional facilities.
Practical Theology & the Shift from Prison Reform to Prison Abolition
As mass incarceration and the racial and socio-economic injustices that fuel it continues to plague the U.S., contemporary religious scholarship has become increasingly aware of and responsive to these problems through a variety of theological analyses and ethical calls for change. Yet many of these religious responses seem to fall short, myopic in their analyses of what has created and sustained the prison industrial complex and limited in their subsequent calls for reform. Drawing upon the work of Richard Osmer and Juan Luis Segundo, this paper argues that practical theology offers a useful corrective theo-ethical lens, their methodological frames simultaneously engendering more precise and thorough analysis as well as more imaginative and liberative responses. Specifically, this paper argues that practical theology calls for a shift in theo-ethical discourse and action from prison reform to that of prison abolition.
Abject Joy: Paul, Prison, and the Art of Making Do (OUP 2021)
No extant text gives so vivid a glimpse into the experience of an ancient prisoner as Paul’s letter to the Philippians. As a letter from prison, however, it is not what one would expect. For although it is true that Paul, like some other ancient prisoners, speaks in Philippians of his yearning for death, what he expresses most conspicuously is contentment and even joy. Setting aside pious banalities that contrast true joy with happiness, and leaving behind too heroic depictions that take their cue from Acts, Abject Joy offers a reading of Paul’s letter as both a means and an artifact of his provisional attempt to make do. By outlining the uses of punitive custody in the administration of Rome’s eastern provinces and describing the prison’s complex place in the social and moral imagination of the Roman world, this book provides a richly drawn account of Paul’s nonelite social context, where bodies and their affects were shaped by acute contingency and habitual susceptibility to violent subjugation. Informed by recent work in the history of emotions, and with comparison to modern prison writing and ethnography provoking new questions and insights, Abject Joy describes Paul’s letter as an affective technology, wielded at once on Paul himself and on his addressees, that works to strengthen his grasp on the very joy he names.