Features
Protecting people with words
Excellent Christian preaching names and explores the shadows in order to declare that the light shines in the darkness.
The gospel in seven words
The Century asked 23 authors to boil Christian proclamation down to just a few words. What is the essence of the essence of Christianity?
It looks like a wedding: The new Episcopal same-sex rite
The new liturgy makes no claim that couples of the same sex can, in the ecclesiastical sense, marry. What it does say is more interesting.
Books
Swallowing the Sea, by Lee Upton
Upton is an award-winning poet, novelist and critic who here writes about the writing enterprise....
How the Church Fails Businesspeople (and What Can Be Done About It), by John C. Knapp
John Knapp tells the story of a businessperson short on cash, with a client who can't pay his bill. For Knapp, this case study highlights the great divide between work and faith.
Religion in decline?
Readers familiar with Ross Douthat's column might expect his new book to be moderately conservative and carefully nuanced. It is neither.
Home, by Toni Morrison
Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Toni Morrison’s 10th novel, Home, explicitly picks up on a theme that has been crucial to both her fiction and her nonfiction over several decades: the idea...
Where the Conflict Really Lies, by Alvin Plantinga
Alvin Plantinga posits a profound conflict between naturalism and science. This extraordinary claim is deeply counterintuitive.
Never Say Die, by Susan Jacoby
Susan Jacoby is an important truth teller. Her book's core idea is that old age is real, inescapable and often dreadful—despite society's illusions.
Departments
Good news in brief
Whenever I preached a dense sermon or used too many references, a missionary friend would gently remind me to proclaim the gospel simply.
Jesus meets the Buddha
Ever since Westerners discovered Asian cultures they have been intrigued by possible relationships between Christianity and Buddhism.
Connections that last
Photographer Noel Vicentini captured the end of the Shaker paradise, Eden going to seed. He seemed especially interested in places of joining.
Beneath Within
In her mixed-media paintings, Sheila Mahoney Keefe combines abstraction with sparse representation—a table, a flower, a door. By paring down details, she provides room for prayer and imagination to enter....
Farm bill blues
U.S. farm policy badly needs an overhaul. But first, amid the worst drought in decades, Congress needs to pass an uninspiring farm bill.
News
Key rabbinic vacancy in Jerusalem stays unfilled
Some two years ago a group of journalists was invited to a meeting to discuss the election of a new Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Jerusalem. The post had been vacant for about six years....
Nuns reject Rome takeover, seek dialogue with bishops
American nuns facing a Vatican takeover of their leadership organization have rejected Rome’s plans to recast the group in a more conservative mold, but declined—at least for now—to respond with an ultimatum that could have created an unprecedente...
Anti-Obama black pastors group has conservative ties
Since William Owens launched his national campaign in May calling on African Americans to withdraw their support of President Obama because of his stance on gay marriage, the minister has claimed the backing of 3,700 black clergy and touted his or...
Clergy urge Americans to defend religious minorities
A group of religious leaders representing seven faith traditions have called for something more than a period of public mourning after a week that saw a shooting rampage at a Sikh temple and a suspicious fire at a Missouri mosque....
Sikhs remembered for piety, kindness
People gathered early that fateful Sunday at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin to meditate on God and to serve others—key requirements of their religion....
Missouri prayer amendment passes by wide margin
Voters in Missouri have overwhelmingly approved a “right to pray” amendment to the state’s constitution, despite concerns about the measure’s necessity and legality. Amendment 2 received nearly 80 percent of the vote....
Muslims petition Egypt not to include Shari‘a
Muslim and Coptic Christian leaders in the U.S. are calling on the Egyptian government to exclude any mentions of Islamic law or language that discriminates against minorities in its draft constitution....
Most Americans keep their faith private while online
Meet the social media “nones.” A new survey finds that though most Americans are religious, they generally do not use social media to supplement worship and mostly keep their faith private online....