author of DISCIPLES OF WHITE JESUS March '25 | RED STATE CHRISTIANS '22 + '19 | angeladenker.substack.com | mom of 2 boys | columnist @startribune
Articles by Angela Denker
News with Nuance: Oct. 9, 2026
Your Friday dose of News with Nuance: the week's biggest stories, unpacked + more .. Hi Readers, In the aftermath of ICE’s “Metro Surge” assault of violence, hatred and cruelty here in Minnesota, I had a few conversations with my neighbors about the range of emotions we kept experiencing. On one hand, there was this sense of pride and courage: that we would not allow the violence, hatred, and cruelty to have the final word.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 187
Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ... Hi Readers, Welcome back to the Sunday Stretch. If you’re reading this on the Sunday morning when it was sent out, I’m back in Sioux Falls, S.D., enjoying a weekend visit at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and Augustana University. I’m grateful to be back in Sioux Falls, which was one of the first places to invite me to come speak and guest preach after my first book, Red State Christians, came out in 2019.
Gang Rape at Cornell
Violence against women in 2026 is not an isolated incident I’m angry today, like so many of you are. Being a woman in America today feels like existing in a never-ending nightmare, the recurring one where you are being chased and attacked, and you feel yourself screaming - but your scream is silenced. There is no sound. You try to scream louder. No one hears it, and no one cares.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 186
And a special welcome to all of you joining in from St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, where I was honored to present the first half of an adult forum last week, and today will be preaching at 8 and 10 a.m., with the final half of our adult forum from 9-9:50 a.m. Local readers, please do join us if you’re looking for a place to worship this morning! This will be my first time preaching at an Episcopal church, and I’m especially honored to do it at St. John the Evangelist,...
News with Nuance: Sept. 25, 2026
Welcome back to News with Nuance - and a special welcome to new subscribers joining us from my time at St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in St. Paul, MN. I so enjoyed presenting there last Sunday - and I’ll be back this Sunday to preach at 8 and 10 and conclude our adult forum from 9-9:50. If you’re local, please join us! I have more to share in the upcoming Sunday Stretch about this courageous congregation, so look for that on Sunday morning at 6.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 185
So glad to be back in the rhythm of the Sunday Stretch with all of you, and a special welcome to those joining from Covenant Presbyterian in Madison, Wisc., where I was a special guest preacher and presenter last weekend. In case you’re interested, you can view my sermon from the 9 a.m. service here: For Twin Cities readers, a reminder that I’m leading a forum this morning at St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul at 9.
Three Books to Empower a Movement
Hi Readers, And a special welcome to everyone joining in from this past weekend’s preaching and presentations in Madison, Wisc.! This post is a special edition to let you know about three important books that release TODAY. I’m so happy to share with you today this video about three groundbreaking, earth-shattering, essential books that come out today, from three authors who I’m so fortunate to call friends and colleagues in this work.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 184
Hi Readers, Gosh, I’m so happy to be writing to you again after my usual August sabbatical. By the time you read this, I will have already shared September’s first News with Nuance with you, but I also wanted to use this space for a chance to catch up with you on my time away, before we return to our practice of studying the Lectionary psalms.
News with Nuance: Sept. 11, 2026
Hi Readers, What a heavy week, a weighty time to be alive. This is my first official post following my usual August - Labor Day sabbatical, but I do have a fuller personal update coming for all of you this Sunday, for the Sunday Stretch, so please do look for that on Sunday morning. As for our current moment, as one of you wrote to me, there is much to comment upon.
It's time to breathe.
Hi Readers, I first started I’m Listening in September 2022. When August 2023 rolled around, I realized that an important part of this work would be taking a regular time away from it - a time of renewal, creativity, and space for new ideas.
The plan to increase Teen Pregnancy
Hi Readers, For my last post ahead of my pre-scheduled August break (more to come on that), I wanted to take time to share with you a new project I’ve been working on this summer. Some of you may have already seen the videos I’ve been doing as part of my friend Brad Onishi’s Axis Mundi Media Network’s Daily Briefs. I’m so honored to be a part of this team, which also includes my dear friend and co-conspirator Holly Berkley Fletcher, also my friend Matthew D.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 183
Hi Readers, A quick housekeeping note that today will be our last edition of the Sunday Stretch before I take my traditional August break. The past two years I haven’t exactly taken a real break for August, because of Disciples of White Jesuscoming out and also my previous column work at the Minnesota Star Tribune. So this year - as summer has been quite a whirlwind thus far - I’m hoping to take a real break. There will be a full post coming for Aug. 1 to share more.
News with Nuance: July 24, 2026
Hi Readers, A quick housekeeping note that today will be our last edition of News with Nuance before I take my traditional August break. The past two years I haven’t exactly taken a real break for August, because of Disciples of White Jesuscoming out and also my previous column work at the Minnesota Star Tribune. So this year - as summer has been quite a whirlwind thus far - I’m hoping to take a real break. There will be a full post coming for Aug. 1 to share more.
It started out as a joke ... Part III - Finale
Hi Readers, As promised, over the last three Tuesdays in July, I’ve been sharing with you an excerpt from Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. This is Part III, the finale. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. Part II is here. I first heard this story from the Midwestern pastor who told it to me the summer before I started researching and writing Disciples.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 182
Hi Readers, Writing to you today on one of those hectic summer days, filled with a long line at the Goodwill drop off, summer camp pick up and drop off, loads of laundry, podcast and video recordings, and lunch bites of a chicken wrap stolen over a few minutes while working … Life feels hectic, and at the same time, I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do this work with this community here on Substack - while at the same time sitting in the waiting room at the eye doctor next to my...
It started out as a joke ... Part II
Hi Readers, As promised, over the next two Tuesdays in July, I’m sharing with you an excerpt from Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood. This is Part II. If you missed Part I, you can read it here. I first heard this story from the Midwestern pastor who told it to me the summer before I started researching and writing Disciples. In fact, it was this story, and the conversation we shared, that helped to convince me of the importance of writing this very book.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 181
Hi Readers, I was just reviewing the texts for this Sunday and looking back at the previous version where I studied them in the Sunday Stretch. As I read through the prayers, I was struck that a number of them remain the same, starting off with a petition for peace and end to the violence in Ukraine. Maybe mid-summer can feel that way every year, this sense of fatigue setting in when you keep working and working and hoping - eventually - that there will be a moment of rest or accomplishment ahead.
News with Nuance: July 10, 2026
Hi Readers, I am feeling weary this week as I write to you.
What, to an American Christian, is the Fourth of July?
Hi Readers, Here’s hoping these words I first wrote last year might feel less relevant next year! It’s yet another Fourth of July in America, where the freedoms our country’s founders intended (though did not actually practice in many ways) are at risk, under an increasingly authoritarian federal government and executive branch, emboldened by a Supreme Court willing to sacrifice the separation of powers on the altar of entrenched Christian Nationalism and religious fundamentalism (all in the...
Sunday Stretch: Fourth of July Weekend 2026
Hi Readers, What a year in which to “celebrate” America’s 250th Birthday. I’m writing this to you on a morning when the U.S. Supreme Court has just lifted one of the few remaining guardrails on executive (authoritarian) power, giving Trump, and whoever comes after him, unchecked power to fire independent regulators in Trump v. Slaughter.
Protest Art from Iran
Hi Readers, I have a special bonus post for you this June. One of the best gifts of writing this newsletter has been getting into touch with other writers, artists, and creatives of all types - and getting a chance to use this newsletter as a vehicle to share their work with you. Longtime readers might remember the first post and interview I shared with local Minneapolis artist and Augsburg University art professor Lyz Wendland.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 179
I initially thought I might use this space to provide some helpful ideas for church leaders who are preparing worship services this Sunday and next, with the Fourth of July and America’s 250th anniversary falling next Saturday. I do want to point you here to the myriad worship resources that have been prepared for you through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Sundays and Seasons.
News with Nuance: June 26, 2026
Hi Readers, It has been a busy few weeks around here. ICYMI, I started a new project this past week with Brad Onishi + Axis Mundi Network, creating videos for the Daily Brief.
When the Church loses the compassion of Christ
Hi I'm Listeningreaders, I’m so honored to share with you today a guest post from the Rev. TJ Johnson. Pastor Johnson is now a pastor in Oregon as part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. But as he explains in the personal, deeply wrought story he shares below - he spent most of his ministry serving in the more conservative Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, a denomination that does not ordain women or allow non-LCMS members to commune in its churches.
Trouble in Minneapolis and South Carolina
Hi Readers, A few things to share with you that I’ve been working on for publication in other places: First, this morning I published a piece at MSNow this morning detailing the cynical reasons behind the arrest of 15 ICE resisters in Minneapolis last week.
The Trump administration is now attacking Minneapolis with indictments
Protesters clash with law enforcement outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility as they attempt to block federal agents' vehicles from leaving during a protest against ICE following the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman by a U.S. immigration agent, in Minneapolis on January 8, 2026. A crucial component of the Trump administration's war on immigrants is targeting non-immigrants who stand up for their neighbors.
Sunday Stretch: Father's Day 2026
Hi Readers, It’s the fourth Sunday after Pentecost - and the fourth Sunday in the church season known as “Ordinary Time,” however, as I noted three years ago - there’s nothing ordinary about the weeks ahead on our secular cultural calendar. In an age of rising Christian Nationalism and America’s upcoming semiquicentennial (or 250th Anniversary) - there is much commentary about what it means to be Christian in America, and how this nation has or has not lived up to the Gospel of Jesus.
The Violence of White Christian Masculinity
Authors Angela Denker Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota Abstract This excerpt from the book, Disciples of White Jesus: The Radicalization of American Boyhood, describes the difficult wrestling of a pastor who witnessed firsthand how radicalization and white supremacy can infiltrate and fester in churches where one might not expect.
Declaring Independence from Christian Nationalism
Authors Angela Denker ELCA pastor at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota Craig L. Nessan Wartburg Theological Seminary Abstract The articles in this issue engage the challenges of Christian nationalism through historical, theological, biblical, and anthropological perspectives.
ICE in New Jersey with Rev. Erich Kussman
Hi Readers, I was so honored to spend this time talking with the Reverend Erich Kussman , who has been on the front lines of protests at Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey, where detainees were recently holding hunger strikes amidst dangerous conditions there - and a surge of ICE activity in the Garden State.
News with Nuance: June 12, 2026
Hi Readers, Welcome back to News with Nuance. I’m writing to you on the first (rainy) day of summer vacation, which has so far included (1) an allergy shot (2) sleepover pick-up (3) rainy bike ride (4) visit to toy shop (5) picking wild mulberries to make fruit leather (6) drop off to another friend’s house (7) golf in the rain.
Flags in Sanctuaries?
Note: I’m sending out this week’s Sunday Stretch a few days early, in hopes it might prove helpful to preachers and church leaders preparing for Sunday worship on Flag Day. Hi Readers, We are stepping away for a moment from our study of the Lectionary psalms to address a question I get all the time from church leaders + churchgoers alike. What should we do about the American flag in the sanctuary?
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 176, Pentecost II
Hi Readers, I’m back from a beautiful, unbelievable week in Norway (and one day each in Denmark and the Netherlands) for a trip with my mom. It was absolutely gorgeous and packed with so many new things to see and new experiences to process. I’ll be taking it in for a long time to come, and I’m so grateful for good health and safe travel throughout our week.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 175, Holy Trinity Sunday
Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ... Hi Readers, You might be thinking it’s time to relax and move into the “lazy” summer season as school years and program years come to an end, but we actually have another Church Holiday for you this Sunday: Holy Trinity Sunday.
Remembering
For Memorial Day 2026 Hi Readers, I usually send out a bonus Substack on the last Tuesday of the month: usually a little catch-up of personal stories, or a fun chance to address a new topic. But this month, the last Tuesday of the month falls a day after Memorial Day, and so I wanted to use this space to send this note a day early.
Sunday Stretch: Pentecost 2026
Come, Holy Spirit Hi Readers, Happy Pentecost, the too-often neglected third high holiday of the Church season (with Easter and Christmas). Maybe it’s because, like this year, Pentecost can often fall on Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. I wanted to note that as you read this, I’m (hopefully) in the midst of a really special celebratory trip with my mom. I’ll be traveling this Sunday and just arriving back in time to help lead worship at Lake Nokomis Lutheran on May 30.
BEYOND WELLNESS with Liz Bucar
BEYOND WELLNESS with Liz Bucar A recording from Liz Bucar and Rev. Angela Denker's live video Thank you Claudia Buzzetti, Jane Killingbeck, MarvinTBrown ClimateofJustice, Kris Farren Moss, Jane B In NC🌼, and many others for tuning into my live video with Rev. Angela Denker! Angela and I come of the question of religion from totally different backgrounds and positions: She’s a Lutheran pastor and journalist; I’m a “none” and academic.
News with Nuance: May 22, 2026
Your Friday dose of News with Nuance: the week's biggest stories, unpacked + more .. Hi Readers, Anyone else feeling those Maycember vibes?
Beyond Wellness with Liz Bucar
Get more from Rev. Angela Denker in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 173, Easter VII
Hi Readers, Welcome back to the Sunday Stretch! I’ve been reviewing this week’s original texts in preparation for preaching this morning at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church (join us at 10:45 a.m. if you’re local) and I noticed that this week’s texts also overlap with a church holiday we recognized this past Thursday, the Ascension of our Lord. This being the final Sunday of Easter, we are about to move into the season of Pentecost, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 172, Mother's Day
Hi Sunday Stretch Readers, Happy Spring and Happy Mother’s Day! While my nose is blocked and my eyes are watering due to tree pollen allergies, I’m still so grateful for the blooming trees and green sprouting up all around us here in Minnesota. As today is Mother’s Day, I’m so grateful to share with you again my traditional reflection for this special day. I’m wishing all of you who mother and are mothered a day of love, tenderness, and rest.
News with Nuance: May 8, 2026
Hi Readers, Welcome back to News with Nuance! It’s finally warming up in Minneapolis, and I’m in better spirits coming off a lovely evening spent with some of you at a local book club, as well as a call with my book agent to discuss my potential third book (more to come soon!) Unfortunately, my good spirits are also currently being derailed by a stubbornly stuffed-up nose that is completely plugged on one side.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 171, Easter V
Hi Readers, And a special welcome to all new subscribers joining in here from Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Ill., and other Chicago-area folks who attended my presentation there last weekend. So glad you are here! I was reviewing the texts for this Sunday in preparation to preach this morning at Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church, and I was struck by how powerfully they spoke to our current moment in America and around the world.
In defense of panel discussions ...
I should begin this post by stating, for the record, that I do not have a Ph. D. Occasionally, in my research work around religious nationalism and right-wing radicalization, someone will think that I do - and mistakenly call me Dr. Denker.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 170, Easter IV
Hi Readers, Welcome to all new subscribers joining from last Sunday’s presentation at the wonderful Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis! First, a mea culpa. While I was preparing today’s newsletter and looking through the texts, I realized that last week I initially linked to the incorrect full Lectionary text study. Funny enough, I have two Sunday Stretch, Vol. 31 editions in my archive, and I linked to the wrong one, which actually has this week’s readings. Confused? Me, too.
News with Nuance: April 24, 2026
“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo said.
Reality in Ruins: Truth and Conspiracy with Rev. Angela Denker and Jared Stacy, Ph. D.
Get more from Rev. Angela Denker in the Substack app Available for iOS and Android
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 168, Easter III
Hi Readers, Welcome back to the Sunday Stretch! If you’re local to the Twin Cities and happen to be reading this on Sunday morning, I’ll be at Mount Olive in St. Paul at 9:30 today to lead an adult forum. Would love to see you there! We’re continuing the season of Easter today. A reminder that as we study the Lectionary psalms, I have previously offered meditations and context for all the other Lectionary texts over the past three years.
Sunday Stretch: Vol. 167, Easter II
Hi Readers, A special welcome to all new subscribers, especially those of you who are joining in from last Thursday’s event at Shepherd of the Lake Lutheran Church. If you’re looking for the latest News with Nuance post, you can find it here: Happy Easter! I always try to remember that Easter, like Christmas, is a season and not only a day.
News with Nuance: April 10, 2026
Hi Readers, Welcome back to News with Nuance. I was thinking that this edition might be a little lighter, given that my family and I were away for a few days in the mountains last week, and it was also Holy Week and Easter. But as I’m sure all of you know - that just hasn’t been the case.
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