The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

About Darren M. Slade, PhD

Darren Slade is a theological historian, systematician, and critical rationalist philosopher from Denver, Colorado. Specializing in historic-speculative theology, theoretical metaphysics, and the socio-political development of religious belief systems, Darren's academic publications include topics ranging from the philosophy of religion, ancient Near Eastern and Second-Temple hermeneutical practices, church and Islamic history, and the psychology of religion. Check out his other work here: darrenmslade.academia.edu.

FaithXperimental Spotlight: Justice Revival, Washington, DC

“A Justice Ministry Whose Time Has Come”

A few years ago, Megan, a millennial fresh out of college, was clear on her calling—she wanted to join a Christian human rights organization. Megan had grown up in the Church, studied theology, led mission trips. But when she went searching, there wasn’t such a group to be found. She discovered worthwhile ministries tackling crucial justice issues from hunger to human trafficking, but none focused on human rights as such.

Fast forward to 2019: Megan, now a skilled professional, joins a team meeting one morning to meet a new nonprofit client. She is unexpectedly moved because she finally hears someone articulate her deep conviction about the vital need for a Christian ministry specializing in human rights. That person is Allyson McKinney Timm, founder of Justice Revival based out of Washington, DC.

Justice Revival describes itself as “a diverse, inclusive community of Christian faith, dedicated to serving as a voice for human rights in the United States.” Its vision is a vibrant, transformative movement in which Christian faith leaders call on U.S. lawmakers to fulfill their moral and legal duty to respect and protect the human rights of all people, not just a particular class of citizenry.

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Divided by a Common Language: A Philosophical Reflection

Darren Slade, research director for FaithX and general editor of our sponsored journal, Socio-Historical Exploration of Religion and Ministry, regularly writes articles for the FaithXperimental blog, primarily curating relevant research as it is published and contributing articles for our FaithXperimental Spotlight series. 

However, in this blog Darren offers a different kind of article: philosophical reflection on how language itself can contribute to incivility in communication. His thesis: un-nuanced and lazy thinking — that words that so clearly carry one meaning for us must therefore carry the same meaning for others — makes it easy for us to condemn those who disagree with us without truly understanding the meaning they attach to what they are saying. He also offers some possible ways to avoid allowing our assumptions about our common language to divide us.

There is a deep divide in our country, and in many parts of the world, that continues unabated. As a civilization, we have become so polarized and so entrenched in our tribal ways of thinking that finding common ground (or even civility in dialogue) appears near impossible. But what if part of the problem has to do with our use of the English language? Is it possible that our method of speaking is, in fact, causing much of the divide in our culture? Here’s what I mean:  

I’d like you to take a moment and try a quick and easy “armchair” experiment. First, find a chair and sit down. Then, ask yourself a question: What is a “chair?” Yes, I’m serious, and no dictionaries allowed. Now, sit down and define a “chair.”

If you think about it long enough, you will begin to realize this simple task is actually very difficult to accomplish. For every definition you can think of, you  can find hundreds of examples that contradict it. For example, defining a chair as “something to sit on” would seem to suggest that a floor also qualifies as a chair. But that’s not right. A floor is not a chair, even if you can sit on it.

So you get more specific and define a chair as “something you sit on that has four legs.” But that’s not accurate, either. There are some chairs with only three legs. Bean bags can be chairs, and they have no legs at all. A dog has four legs, and you could sit on your dog (if your dog was big enough, that is), but that doesn’t make your dog a chair.

So why is it so difficult to define a chair!?! We all know what one is, right?

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FaithXperimental Spotlight: Breakthrough, Chicago, IL

In our travels around the U.S., both digitally and physically, we at FaithX like keep our eyes open for examples of people, programs, communities, or ministries doing creative, innovative, and experimental things in the area of faith. And when we do find one, we like to shine a spotlight on them in a FaithXperimental blog post.

Today’s Spotlight article is about Breakthrough Ministries, based in Chicago, IL. We first learned of Breakthrough from a local news story by Chicago’s WGN 9, discussing their Broadcast Camp where they expose public school children to the life of public broadcasting. Because of Breakthrough’s repeated outreach and activities with local youth, it’s no surprise that they were involved with the summer camp. Naturally, of course, we wanted to learn more about Breakthrough and their other programs.

Breakthrough is a nonprofit organization that partners with those affected by poverty on Chicago’s West Side. Since its founding in 1992, Breakthrough has remained grounded in its mission to partner with those affected by poverty to build connections, develop skills, and open doors of opportunity. The organization currently has four locations in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, providing wraparound services such as housing, workforce development, health and wellness, and education. Breakthrough intentionally serves a diverse group of individuals, targeting those living within a 40-block zone in East Garfield Park, one of the most underserved neighborhoods on the West Side of Chicago. Each year, Breakthrough serves over 5,000 children, teens, and adults through these ministries with a dedicated staff of 100 people and 3,000 annual volunteers who increase the impact of their programs.

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Leaving Liberty University Behind

My Journey toward Renouncing America’s
Largest Christian College

Student graffiti in support of Donald Trump that covered the entirety of Liberty campus ahead of the 2016 Presidential election.

In this deeply personal blog post, our research director Darren Slade recounts the journey of discernment that led to his parting ways with the religious and political ideology represented at Liberty University, the institution from which he received his PhD. in Theology.

By Darren M. Slade

In a nutshell, this post is simply my explicit and public disavowal of the prejudicial ideology and ugly rhetoric that comes out of Liberty University, particularly from the Jerry Falwell dynasty that still controls it, and to explain that not every professor or student at Liberty agrees with the beliefs or practices of LU’s more outspoken leaders. Why do I feel the need to make such an explicit and public disavowal of my alma mater?

It’s not because I am disgruntled, opportunistic, or backslidden. On the contrary, like anything else, my experience with Liberty University (spanning almost 9 years) was a mixture of wonderful growth through great joy and turbulent hardship. I made some amazing friends and (probably) some enemies, too. Most importantly, I learned a lot about myself and the Christian tribe I once ascribed to. I eventually learned what I always knew: I am a man of strong conviction and have a passion for truth and justice. As such, I learned that I needed to separate myself from the political ideology and prejudicial theology behind Liberty University. Thus, this disavowal comes from a genuine disappointment in having chosen to attend Liberty in the first place, as well as a grave concern for what the university has come to symbolize today—religiously, academically, and politically.

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Victimizing the Flock: What Sex Assault Victims Mean for Christianity

by Darren Slade, Ph.D.

Darren Slade is director of research at FaithX, general editor of our sponsored acedemic journal, Socio-Historical Exploration of Religion and Ministry, and a regular contributor to the FaithXperimental blog. Darren holds a PhD in theology from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Today’s post is a critical analysis of sexual assault in the Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic denominations.

If there was ever a sign that something drastic needs to change within the Christian religion, it is the countless thousands upon thousands of sex assault cases that have been brought to light in the last few decades. How many more victims have there been? How many more churches are harboring sexual predators? How many more will suffer in the future?

If there was ever a sign that Christianity needs another reformation (or perhaps an outright revolution), it is the countless sex assault victims who have demanded change but have been ignored by their religious leaders.

In June of 2008, at a Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) meeting in Indianapolis, a committee representing a number of sex assault victims pleaded with SBC leaders to put in place measures that would prevent SBC churches from hiring and concealing sexual predators. These sex assault victims accused numerous SBC churches of deliberately hiding sex assault allegations and litigation from the public.

Unfortunately, every one of their pleas fell on deaf ears.

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