Features
Adopt a settlement: Christian Zionists and the West Bank
At American synagogues, Israeli settlement leader Ron Nachman gets a lot of questions. At churches he gets big checks.
Put away: Solitary confinement
The Geneva Convention forbids excessive use of solitary confinement. Yet the U.S. persists in using it as punishment.
Little Boots
The blind kitten I adopted seemed to walk by faith instead of sight—the perfect companion to take to divinity school.
How we’re poisoning our children: An interview with ecologist Sandra Steingraber
"Chemical trespass and climate change are often dealt with by two separate groups of environmentalists. I am interested in bringing these two together."
Martha Marcy May Marlene
This first feature by writer-director Sean Durkin, a big hit at the 2011
Sundance Film Festival, centers on an enigmatic character with a
minimal backstory. Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) is a 22-year-old who has
spent the past two years living in a cult community in upstate New York.
Holy listening: The spiritual direction movement
In philosophy and practice, spiritual
direction suggests that the individual self is insufficient as a locus
of meaning. No one can "do" spiritual direction alone.
Relative poverty: The indignity of gross inequality
Which view of economic inequality has greater merit, Adam Smith's or the Bible's? It's a trick question: the two are broadly the same.
Books
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, by Martin E. Marty
Though some of his admirers may find it difficult to believe now,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was not widely known in the years immediately
following World War II, save perhaps as one of a band of courageous
pastors and theologians in Germany who resisted the Nazi regime of Adolf
Hitler.
What war does to warriors
Karl Marlantes's new book is not fiction, but it develops the idea of his novel Matterhorn: that war provides a
sense of transcendence that can be found nowhere else.
Let’s talk about toxins
It's time for the talk, says Sandra Steingraber: the talk about the pollutants that are
infiltrating our lives and threatening the health of all of us,
especially our children.
Quest for Spiritual Community, by Angela H. Reed
A few years ago our local group of clergy met to discuss the level of spiritual maturity in our congregations....
Departments
Voices of 2011
"I Used to Be Afraid . . . I Became an Egyptian.''-- sign (in Arabic) seen in Tahrir Square in Cairo during protests that led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime...
The three days of Timkat
For many early Christians, only at the moment of Jesus' baptism was he suddenly overwhelmed by the power of divinity.
Saved by Tintin
One has only to look at Tintin, his round face animated by the simplest imaginable features, to know that he is the ultimate Boy Scout.
The Annunciation
When I started the work,” writes video artist/photographer Eija-Liisa Ahtila, “the aim was to do a remake of the annunciation paintings with moving images to see what this powerful image in our culture would turn out to be and what it would mean i...
Scorched earth
How is it possible to read the first chapter of the Bible and not be an environmentalist?
Out of Afghanistan
In 2008, President Obama accused his
predecessor of taking his eye off the ball—the fight in
Afghanistan. But the case for a military presence in Afghanistan was already waning.
News
Mormon PR blunts Jews’ unease with Romney
Two groups that opposed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential run were evangelical Protestants and Jews....
Alan Geyer, former Century editor, dies
Alan F. Geyer, 80, a widely published Christian ethicist and ecumenical leader and a former editor of the Christian Century, died November 28....
Backers say Baylor prof faces firing for his views
A Baylor University professor is fighting dismissal charges that
supporters say are aimed at silencing a dissident voice in America's
Jewish community....
Faith groups aided Occupy as winter, police moved in
As Occupy camps nationwide dealt with police crackdowns and the
inevitable onset of winter temperatures, religious communities of all
stripes stepped in with offers of shelter and solidarity....
In Tunisia, popular Ennahda party tests ‘moderate’ Islam
Nearly a year after Tunisia set off the Arab Spring of popular
revolt, the face of political Islam in this fledgling Muslim democracy
is a 47-year-old pharmaceutical executive who favors tailored suits and
stiletto heels....
Romney’s faith could be a problem in GOP primary
If Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can secure the
nomination, his Mormon faith shouldn't be an obstacle for voters in the
general election, according to a recently released survey....
A surge in faith-based lobbying
The number of religious advocacy groups in the nation's capital has
more than tripled since the 1970s, with conservative groups experiencing
the biggest growth, according to a new report....
Lectionary
Sunday, January 1, 2012: Galatians 4:4–7
With all of the pressures of preparing for Christmas Day—the coming and going, the parties and presents—the Sunday following Christmas is welcome indeed.