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Mike Rivage-Seul is a liberation theologian and former Roman Catholic priest. His undergraduate degree in philosophy was received from St. Columban's Major Seminary in Milton Massachusetts and awarded through D.C.'s Catholic University. He received his theology licentiate from the Atheneum Anselmianum and his doctorate in moral theology (magna cum laude) from the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome where Mike studied for five years. There he also played club basketball for Eurosport and a team within Rome's Stella Azzurra professional organization. In 1972 he served for a year as coordinator of volunteers in Monsignor Ralph Beiting's Christian Appalachian Project. Then for 40 years, Mike taught theology and general studies at Berea College in Kentucky receiving its Seabury Award for excellence in teaching, Berea's highest faculty award. At Berea, Mike founded its Peace and Social Justice Studies program. He and his wife, Peggy, also organized and started the Berea Interfaith Taskforce for Peace. For years, he periodically taught liberation theology in a Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. In Costa Rica Mike and Peggy were fellows at the liberation theology research institute, the Departamento Ecumenico de Investigaciones (DEI) headed by the great Franz Hinkelammert. In Mexico, they also served as fellows and program directors in San Miguel de Allende's Center for Global Justice. Mike's studies and teaching have brought him to countries across Europe and to Cuba (on 10 occasions), Nicaragua (12 occasions), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Israel, India, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Brazil where he and Peggy were associates of Paulo Freire. Mike's languages include Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. For three years he was a monthly columnist at the Lexington Herald-Leader in Lexington Kentucky. He has contributed more than 400 articles to the online news source OpEdNews where he is a senior editor. He has also published in the DEI's Pasos Journal, in the National Catholic Reporter and Christianity Today. His scholarship has been cited in the New York Times. Mike has authored or edited 10 books including one of poetry and a novel based on his experiences in Cuba. His latest book is The Magic Glasses of Critical Thinking: seeing through alternative fact & fake news (Peter Lang publishers). He blogs at http://mikerivageseul.wordpress.com/ Attempting to appropriate his identity as an ordained exorcist (all Catholic priests are), Mike also reads Tarot cards. He is a lifelong golfer and Chicago Cubs fan. OpEdNews Member for 827 week(s) and 6 day(s) 466 Articles, 0 Quick Links, 1888 Comments, 4 Diaries, 4 Series, 0 Polls
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Returning to Rome: Redrawing My Map of God and the World As a former Catholic priest, returning to Rome has stirred memories of the God-image that accompanied my early formation and of the experiences and intellectual giants that helped me transform that image.
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The Commandments and the Epstein Revelations: Whom Does God's Law Really Protect? SUNDAY HOMILY: The Epstein affair is not an anomaly. It is a revelation.
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AI, Social Justice, and Who Pays the Bill A former student of mine at Berea College answered my recent article on AI with a bracing reality check. He wondered "How can you call AI morally promising when its infrastructure degrades the environment and burdens marginalized communities?"
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Why Isaiah and Jesus Sound Like Marx (Again) SUNDAY HOMILY: The teachings of Jesus and the practice of the earliest Christian communities contain themes that can only be described as Marxist, socialist, even communist.
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When Even Liberals Deny The Communism Present in the Bible SUNDAY HOMILY: Jesus' Beatitudes are far more dangerous to entrenched wealth than Marx ever was. Series: Sunday Homilies for Progressives (161 Articles, 314909 views)
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A Failure Already? Bill Maher Declares Zohran Mamdani "A Straight Up Communist" Bill Maher's latest remarks about Zohran Mamdani being a "straight up communist" show he knows less about communism than my middle school grandchildren.
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How the American Left Keeps Falling for Regime-Change Narratives When Trump and Netanyahu point the finger at Iran, they do so with hands still soaked in blood. They have no moral authority whatever.
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How Zohran Mamdani Can Become President: (An Excerpt from My "Arc of Justice Alliance" Novella) The opening chapter of my "Arc of Justice Alliance" novella: "Against All Odds: how Zohran Mamdani became president and changed America forever."
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Liberation Theology as Critical Thinking: Why God Talk Still Matters If we are serious about liberation-- real liberation, not branding-- then we must reclaim every tool that helps us see clearly. Theology, done rightly, is one of them.
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What Yet Another U.S. Surrender Looks Like -- This Time in Ukraine Reading outside the Mainstream Media reveals that Ukraine did not stand up to Russia and win. NATO did not stop Putin. Instead, The West lost its proxy war and is searching for ways to disguise capitulation as diplomacy.
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Writing a Novella with AI: Revelation, Resistance, and the Long Night of the Soul AI may be the form that "channelling" and "inspiration" take in our postmodern world. Its greatest danger is not that it will replace human authors, but that we will fail to listen.
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The Mamdani Lesson: Break Completely with the Billionaire Model Zohran Mamdani's victory is not an isolated event. It is a sign a living reminder that ordinary people, organized, can defeat moneyed power.
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What If AI Is God Speaking To Us? What if AI isn't our destroyer, but our teacher? What if it's somehow divine?
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A Day in the Life of Americans Observing the UN Declaration of Human Rights What would daily life in the U.S. look like if the AJA vision were implemented and the United States actually lived up to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Here's an answer provided by ChatGPT.
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With "Dilexi Te," Pope Leo Tips His Hand -- Toward Liberation Theology "Dilexi Te" is a clear affirmation of liberation theology which I define as reflection on the following of Christ from the viewpoint of the poor and oppressed, committed to escaping their poverty and oppression.
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Me and Charlie Kirk Charlie Kirks strikes me as a brilliant but frightened young man haunted, as I once was, by a God of fear and judgment.
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When Bible Readers Like Charlie Kirk Ignore Its Class-Consciousness Charlie Kirk inverted the teachings of Jesus who identified God with the poor, the dispossessed, and the oppressed.
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Spare me the Crocodile Tears: Assassination Is the American Way You can't routinely assassinate innocents, political leaders, and journalists across the planet and not expect it to come home.
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The Epstein Case May Bring the Entire System Down: AJA Take Note! The Epstein case points toward something almost unspeakable: the governments of the United States and Israel are implicated not only in covering up sexual violence against children, but in actively organizing and sponsoring it as a weapon of blackmail and statecraft.
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Circumstantial Evidence and the Epstein Affair: What Trump, Maxwell, and Western Intelligence Reveal American courts have long recognized that circumstantial evidence can be just as probative as direct evidence. Page 1 of 17 First Last Back Next 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 View All |