Features
Bullish about books: Social entreprenuer John Wood
In 1998, John Wood was a rising executive at Microsoft when a vacation in Nepal changed his life. By 2000 he had quit his job and started the nonprofit Room to Read organization, which has since grown with astonishing speed. In partnership with local communities, Room to Read has established more than 7,000 bilingual libraries and 700 schools in developing countries—and funded the education of nearly 7,000 girls.
This American mess: Where is Reinhold Niebuhr when we need him?
As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the U.S. finds itself in a mess of historic proportions. Our economic crisis was preceded by a near-universal collapse in judgment about the use of U.S. military force abroad. This mess is profoundly embarrassing because it is of our own making and therefore one that could have been avoided.
Dear John: Your Gospel does not meet our current needs
To: John
From: Harold Sniveling, Acquisitions Editor
Re: Your submission
Our editorial team has had the opportunity to work through your manuscript. Your “Gospel” does not fit our publishing needs at this time. While undeniably sincere, the work is marred by undeveloped characters, uneven plot, choppy style and numerous digressions. To be more specific, I include below our reader’s report.
The way to justice
Calvin's comeback? The irresistible Reformer: The irresistible Reformer
According to a Time magazine article earlier this year, the “New Calvinism” is one of “ten ideas changing the world right now” (March 23). The New Cal vinists cited include megachurch pastor and author John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis; R. Albert Mohler Jr., head of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louis ville, who has remade the seminary according to a Calvinist agenda; and raw, hip pastor-author Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
The Invention of Lying
In the make-believe world of The Invention of Lying, everyone strictly obeys God’s ninth commandment. Alas, in spinning this ambitious morality play, the filmmakers violate a screenwriting commandment: thou shalt not get cold feet in the third act.
The characters are truthful not because they want to be; they just don’t know any better. Their DNA doesn’t permit them to lie to their spouses, call in sick when they’re feeling fine or tell their children that Santa is real. Of course, this also means they can’t fudge the truth to spare others’ feelings.
Voices
Stephanie Paulsell
Kept awake by love: The prophetic voices of Advent
In spite of my best intentions, somewhere around Halloween my ability to stay on top of things begins to unravel. It gets more and more difficult to wake up before the sun and harder to meet all the demands of each day, or even of the previous day. As things left undone accumulate and the hours of daylight diminish, a kind of lethargy sets in. I can feel it seep into the lives of everyone in my household, making it hard to start preparing homework or grade papers or cook a healthy meal.
Philip Jenkins
BRICs of faith: Religion and the four emerging powers
When the U.S. government imagines the global future, the term BRIC features prominently. The concept was created in 2001 when researchers at Goldman Sachs identified four critical emerging powers—Brazil, Russia, India and China. By 2050, claimed these experts, the BRIC powers would be challenging the U.S. for worldwide economic supremacy. U.S. officials have taken this forecast very seriously. Hillary Clinton recently listed these four “major and emerging global powers” as vital partners in any future attempts to solve the world’s problems.
Books
Be Not Anxious: Pastoral Care of Disquieted Souls
Life Among the Lutherans
The Wright way to read Paul
A heart for teaching
On Thinking Institutionally
Departments
The Niebuhr connection: His history with our magazine
News stand: Reporting requires revenue
Kept awake by love: The prophetic voices of Advent
BRICs of faith: Religion and the four emerging powers
News
On hot-button issues, UCC is anything but reserved: "Jesus was not about excluding people"
Religious conservatives cheer ballot wins: Some observers find outcomes mixed
When depression leads pastors to suicide: One out of four pastors is depressed
Century Marks
Wedding on wheels: If you don’t have time to go to church to be married, you can hire Darrell Best of Shelbyville, Illinois. He’ll come to you with his wedding chapel on wheels. Converted from an old fire engine, the chapel has several pews, plexiglass windows that look like stained glass and a sound system disguised as a pipe organ. The fee is a mere $200 plus $2 per mile roundtrip (ABCNews.com).