Blogs

My book, The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family, was released in May as both a paperback and an Ebook, and it's done OK for a work of history by a relatively unknown author.

At the American Academy of Religion meeting in San Francisco in November, Chiara Press hosted a public conversation between Randall Balmer and me titled "Emerging from Fundamentalism," during which we discussed my recent book The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family.

Kinyarwanda: Forgiveness is Freedom, a new movie from talented African American director Alrick Brown, is not a movie about genocide, though it is set in  Rwandan during the 100 days in 1994 during which over 1,000,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutus in an internecine bloodbath.

From December 8-24, I am appearing in Black Nativity as a member of the choir in the Moore Theater in Seattle. Celebrate the holiday season with the joyful gospel song play by American poet, journalist, novelist, memoir and short story writer, Langston Hughes. Enjoy the retelling of the Nativity by way of gospel music, dance, poetry and narrative.

Last month, on Saturday, November 12, I was one of the featured speakers at TedXRainier. The event took place in Kane Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle.   On Sunday morning, November 13, I preached at St Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle in three services. On Saturday, November 19,  at the Academy of American Religion conference in San Francisco, I was hosted by Chiara Press for a conversation titled "Emerging from Fundamentalism" with Randall Balmer, author of Growing Pains: How I Learned to Love My Father's Faith.  

Excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Sword of the Lord: The Roots of Fundamentalism in an American Family

My mom, Mary Lloys Rice Himes, died on October 4th, 2011. This video, produced by my friend Daniel Hawke Roberts, who is married to my niece Sarah Lamb Roberts, was perhaps the only time my mom talked for a camera, telling stories from her life. It gave me a new look at who my mom was, from a point of view outside our family relationship, and as she appeared to many of her friends--a charming and intelligent story-teller with a serious sense of humor. With this new way of looking at her, I can see more clearly the gifts I have inherited from her.

On Tuesday afternoon, October 4, 2011, my sister Faith called from Chattanooga and said, “Mom’s gone.” I heard a rushing sound in my ears and my heart thumped and I said the most profound thing I could think of, which was, “Oh my.” Then I leaned against the wall as Faith told me the details—our 86-year-old Mom was walking down the hall when she just fell down and was gone that fast, likely it was her heart that gave out—and Faith and I cried t