Features
My Lenten fast: Giving up anxiety
I worry about avian flu. I worry that my identity is being stolen right this second. I check four times to make sure I turned the stove off. It's breathless, compulsive behavior.
An elephant in the room? How meeting agendas get hijacked: How meeting agendas get hijacked
In many cases, shouting "Elephant in the room!" is an attempt to avoid other,
lesser, lurking creatures.
Battle scars: Veterans turn to clergy for counseling
Mike is a veteran who attended college on the new GI Bill. When he walked into my office, I knew something was wrong.
The new black theology: Retrieving ancient sources to challenge racism
When black theologians focused on nontraditional and extra-Christian sources, white theologians had an excuse to ignore them. Not anymore.
The Iron Lady
The Iron Lady, which stars Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, is the worst biopic since Nixon. It's so cautious that it lacks a coherent point of
view, and it's so scattered that it tells you almost exactly nothing.
No need for church: Ministry with young adults in flux
Why are there 45,000
young adults in Fargo-Moorhead with no connection to a church? It's not a supply-side issue; there's simply no demand.
The Interrupters: Directed by Steve James
Documentarian Steve James has a journalist's nose for a great story. His beat is the
challenges faced by low-income city kids, in this case young Chicagoans whose lives are blighted by the cycle of violence.
Books
The Cross and the Lynching Tree, by James H. Cone
My great-grandfather was lynched. It was not a big affair in the town square; it happened on a dusty southern road....
Ravished by Beauty, by Belden C. Lane
In this splendid book Belden Lane has made a double contribution—to the
reordering of our perspectives on creation and to our understanding of
the Reformed tradition as a contributor to this reordering.
A taste for Dante
A. N. Wilson's literary biography aims to bridge the gap between the Commedia and nonspecialists who, allegedly abandoned by the professionals, are like sheep without a shepherd.
Black and white thinking
In Redeeming Mulatto, Brian Bantum
addresses the American tendency to understand race relations in binary terms.
Departments
The good sheepdog
I am cherished, and called by the Shepherd to serve the flock. But I can save no one.
A Community of Believers
Brooklyn-based painter Wayne Adams's large canvas (48"x 60") explores the theme of Christian community. Vibrantly colored triangles float over an ethereal surface that seems to be undulating in the background....
Attack of the zombies
All zombie plots include great hordes of the stalking dead. But the genre is maturing.
Beginnings and endings
After 48 years as a minister of word and sacrament, I will retire at the end of January.
The diplomatic option
In 2009, U.S. talks with Iran broke down because the U.S. was seeking quick results. It's time to try again.
News
Two churches join Alliance of Baptists
Two churches disciplined by Baptist bodies for affirming gays have joined the Alliance of Baptists, a theologically progressive organization formed by churches and individuals separating from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1987....
Pro-evolution project says faith and science are reconcilable
A biologist with a scientific interest in evolution-creation debates
attributed a poll saying that three-fourths of Protestant pastors reject
evolution—and close to half believe the earth is about 6,000 years...
Justices uphold church hire-fire rights
The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously thrown its support behind a
church school that fired a teacher, using a widely watched church-state
case to bolster a legal doctrine that exempts religious institutions...
Controversial statue gets a makeover
Just eight months after being unveiled, a controversial statue of
Pope John Paul II in Rome is receiving a major makeover. The 16-foot
statue, which stands just outside the city's main railway station, since...
Virginia judge rules against breakaway Episcopal parishes
Seven congregations that broke with the Episcopal Church in 2006 over
its liberal policies on homosexuality are not entitled to keep parish
property estimated to be worth millions, a Virginia judge has ruled. ...
Appeals court turns down Oklahoma Shari‘a ban
Oklahoma's referendum barring judges from considering Islamic law is
unconstitutional, the Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled,
upholding a lower court ruling that had blocked the measure. The appeals...
Pope’s newest cardinals mostly European, insiders
For Americans who take note of the pomp and circumstance—and
politics— at the Vatican, the big news in January was that Pope Benedict
XVI had included New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan and former Baltimore...
It’s 2012, another year for ‘doomsday’ chatter
On December 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar reaches the end of its
5,126-year epoch. That's a cause for consternation among some end-time
adherents—and for amusement among some descendants of the Maya....
In academia, comments about Islam remain risky
A recent spate of campus controversies involving professors who made
provocative statements about Muslims shows one of two things: a
decreasing tolerance for inflammatory speech, or how easy it is for...
Romney’s evangelical hurdle starts with core theology
Good news for Mitt Romney: he won the New Hampshire GOP primary. Bad
news for Romney: evangelicals remain reluctant to support him. Rick
Santorum got 35 more votes than Romney in Iowa although no official...
Catholic bishop admits fathering teens, resigns
A Catholic bishop in the Los Angeles archdiocese has resigned after
admitting that he is the father of two children, both now teenagers. The
Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the resignation...
Rome opens U.S. Catholic home for ex-Episcopalians
American Episcopalians upset with their denomination's acceptance of
gay and female clergy can now convert to the Roman Catholic Church while
keeping many cherished traditions in a special new U.S. diocese that...
Lectionary
Sunday, February 19, 2012: 2 Kings 2:1–12; Mark 9:2–9
If the disciples hoped before that Jesus didn't know what he was saying, these hopes are now gone.