Herb Montgomery | November 4, 2022 To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here. “In Jesus’ worldview, if marriage was going to perpetuate patriarchal dominance and dependence, then it would be better for both men and … Continue reading
Faith Based Complicity in Social Harm
Herb Montgomery | October 21, 2022 To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here. “It’s not enough to have our faith community’s stamp of approval on our political engagement. We also have to look at the … Continue reading
Jesus, Politics, and the Rights of Cis Women, Trans People and Nonbinary Folk
Herb Montgomery | July 15, 2022 To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here. “Luke’s Jesus does not rebuke Mary for taking up space that is often reserved only for men. He, instead, praises her.” Our … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | June 3, 2022 To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here. “We don’t get to go from exclusively gendering God as male for two thousand years in Christianity to describing God as genderless. … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | May 20, 2022 To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here. “The facts are that the early Jesus community was comprised of those on the undersides and margins of their society who were … Continue reading
When Social Justice is Rejected and Spoken of as Evil
Herb Montgomery | February 11, 2022 (To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here.) “But things never remain as they are. Change is the nature of reality. We can choose to bend the arc of the … Continue reading
The Feminist Liberation of Advent
End of Year Matching Donations! 2021 has been a year of big challenges. Doing ministry during an ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought its share of change along with moments of heartwarming providence and blessings. As this year is coming to … Continue reading
Jesus, Patriarchy, and the Wellbeing of Women
Herb Montgomery | October 1, 2021 “I see this passage through a justice-for-women lens where Jesus is more concerned about the wellbeing of women who could be divorced and sent away from their homes with no economic protection within a … Continue reading
Taking Up Our Crosses, Injustice, and Abuse
Herb Montgomery | September 10, 2021 [To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast click Episode 388:Taking Up Our Crosses, Injustice, and Abuse] “Oppressors throughout history have used the concept of ‘taking up one’s cross’ to prioritize themselves over … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | September 3, 2021 [To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast click Episode 387: Openness to Change] “In our present system, those whose difference causes them to be seen or treated as less-than should be heard. … Continue reading
A Preferential Option for the Excluded
Herb Montgomery | June 25, 2021 “This is what liberation theologians refer to as a preferential option. The word preferential means a preference or partiality and implies favor or privilege. The word option does not mean that the preference is … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | June 18, 2021 “I need a Jesus that can challenge the great windstorm and the waves of deep homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in the Christian church that threatens to capsize the lives of LGBTQ young people … Continue reading
Branches Grafted to a Poisonous Vine
"Although the passage we began with focuses on bearing fruit rather than being a dead or withered branch that bears nothing, we see that the kind of fruit one bears matters too. What does it mean for American Christians to live as Jesus did?" Continue reading
The Good News of Forceful Nonviolent Resurrection
Herb Montgomery | April 2, 2021 “The good news was not that Jesus died, or even that he died for you. The good news rather was that this Jesus whom they killed, God has brought back to life! . . … Continue reading
Reinterpreting the Easter Story
Herb Montgomery | March 19, 2021 “The central image of Christ on the cross as the savior of the world communicates the harmful message that suffering is redemptive. So what do we do with the passage from John’s gospel?” This … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | February 12, 2021 “I’m thankful for a woman who didn’t give up, but persisted in helping Jesus and his disciples see her need beyond their culturally conditioned prejudice. In that moment, she was teacher of the teacher. … Continue reading
2020 has been a challenging year for many nonprofits. RHM is no exception. We need your support to impact lives and bring the faith-based, societal-justice focused resources and analysis RHM provides. Intersections between faith, love, compassion, and justice are needed right now more … Continue reading
2020 has been a challenging year for many nonprofits. RHM is no exception. We need your support to impact lives and bring the faith-based, societal-justice focused resources and analysis RHM provides. Intersections between faith, love, compassion, and justice are needed right now more … Continue reading
The Social Location of Your Christianity Matters
2020 has been a challenging year for many nonprofits. RHM is no exception. We need your support to impact lives and bring the faith-based, societal-justice focused resources and analysis RHM provides. Intersections between faith, love, compassion, and justice are needed right now more … Continue reading
Herb Montgomery | October 16, 2020 “Seeing the man set free from his internalized oppression, the society around him refuses to get free of the same ‘demons.’ . . . When people get free of collective violence toward a marginalized … Continue reading
Three Paths Toward Change Rejected
Herb Montgomery | July 31, 2020 “And in each of these versions of the story, Jesus announces the arrival of God’s just future (‘the kingdom’) but rejects three methods for bringing justice to fruition. We’ll look at each of them.” … Continue reading
The Refusal of the Older Brother
Herb Montgomery | February 7, 2019 “If you believe God loves someone, justice for them isn’t far behind. Love for those on the margins is the seed out of which the reality of God’s inclusive, just future sprouts.” “The older … Continue reading
Biblical Inclusion Versus Biblical Exclusion
by Herb Montgomery | November 8, 2019 “What is our relation, as followers of Jesus, to the marginalized of our day? To what degree are we marginalized in our own lives? Are we standing in solidarity with others who are … Continue reading
Social Sins, Social Justice, and the Jesus Stories
Herb Montgomery | April 19, 2019 “Understood in this light, Jesus’ story offers rich fields for exploration and discovery as we learn to hear a gospel that calls us not to simply be ‘a good person,’ but also to stop … Continue reading
by Herb Montgomery | January 18, 2019 “This is a much different take on women’s virginity than I was raised with. It would also allow a different interpretive lens through which to view Mary who raised a son who modeled, … Continue reading
“Our experiences determine not only the questions we ask, but also the answers we get back. Plain readings are not plain but are read through the lens of our own paradigms and fears. And this is one reason why it … Continue reading
by Herb Montgomery “Christians taking Jesus’ saying on divorce at face value have forced women to stay in untold situations of abuse. I want to argue this week that in the context of the 1st Century’s economic realities for women … Continue reading