Features
Thirst for life: Do we really want to live forever?
Desirable as living forever may sound, it invites us to forget another kind of desire that we creatures should not quench.
What culture of violence? Why we shouldn’t blame video games and movies
Does consuming violent media lead to a greater propensity toward violence? If anything, the data points in the opposite direction.
Forgiving Ahab: Naboths vineyard and Gods justice
American culture focuses on the law. But Naboth's vineyard reminds us that a healthy society is about relationships first and rules second.
From Iran to Israel: Translator Orly Noy
"I am more hopeful about the Iranian future than the Israeli one. The Iranians are at least willing to admit there is a problem."
Discovering the saints: A church meets a cloud of witnesses
When my senior colleague proposed a ten-week sermon series on the saints, I was hesitant. Would anyone find this interesting?
Books
Struck from Behind, by James C. Howell
Howell grew up in a nominally Christian family that occasionally attended a Southern Baptist church. He claims the Baptists tried to kill him!...
Astonished, by Beverly Donofrio
Beverly Donofrio had just been “looking for a monastery to join, for Christ’s sake.” She had closed her laptop, having bookmarked religious communities she might write to, then had fallen into a deep sleep. During the night she was raped at knife point in her home in Mexico.
The Blue Sapphire of the Mind, by Douglas E. Christie
Philosophy begins in wonder, claimed Plato long ago. In The Blue Sapphire of the Mind, Douglas E. Christie identifies this posture as a good place to start for those who seek to dwell on Earth faithfully and responsibly.
Frances and Bernard, by Carlene Bauer
This is that rare novel in which the main characters are theologically literate....
News from Heaven, by Jennifer Haigh
In her 2005 novel Baker Towers, Jennifer Haigh introduced readers to Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a town named after the coal mines that sustain it. In News From Heaven, Haigh explores Bakerton again.
Prophetic epistle
Jonathan Rieder surveys the events that gave rise to King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and offers a fresh perspective on the letter's substance.
Departments
Church of William Harris
A century ago, William Wade Harris began his march across the Ivory Coast. He proclaimed a Christ who was not the property of the master race.
Seeing through Piero
Reviewers of the Piero della Francesca exhibit seem to want to hold the Renaissance painter's genius close but his religion at arm's length.
Power couple
St. Francis and St. Clare's witness was possible only in a world full of grace. Frank and Claire Underwood's story is plausible only in a world stripped of it.
The History Channel's violent God
Most media representations of the biblical story are too literal. In the effort to get the story's details right, the storyteller misses the point.
Healthy cooperation
Several GOP governors have made plans to go along with Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid. This is very good news.
The Last Supper, by Jerry Geier
Vermont artist Jerry Geier’s sculptures often feature commonplace moments and ordinary people. Even the material he uses—terra-cotta—reflects the most common of elements, earth....
News
How long a papal honeymoon? News analysis
Since the moment of his election on March 13, Pope Francis has been warmly embraced by his own flock and even by the media and the wider public in a way that his bookish predecessor, Benedict XVI, was not....
Delayed marriage leading to increased number of out-of-wedlock births
First comes baby, then comes marriage? That is the new norm for many middle-class young Americans—and they and their children are paying a price, says a new report....
Syrian refugee crisis hits neighboring countries
After two years of civil war, the Syrian refugee crisis is reaching a boiling point....
Gordon Cosby, 95, pioneer in missional thinking
Gordon Cosby, the founder of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C., and a pioneering Christian activist whose ministry foreshadowed both the missional and emergent church movements, died March 20 at 95....
New bells to ring out at Notre Dame Cathedral
For generations, France’s best-known cathedral has been ringing in masses and Christian holidays with what some people unkindly called the most discordant bells in Europe....
GOP senator changes his view on gay marriage
Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio has reversed his longtime opposition to same-sex marriage after reconsidering the issue because his 21-year-old son, Will, is gay....
Episcopal bishops agree not to help breakaway congregations
The Episcopal Church has a new commandment for its bishops: thou shalt not assist former Episcopalians who are trying to take the church’s assets....
The Bible producers deny its Satan resembles President Obama
The producers of the History Channel’s The Bible have fended off claims that the actor who plays Satan in the miniseries resembles President Barack Obama....
Melissa Rogers picked for Obama’s faith-based office
Church-state expert Melissa Rogers will be the new director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships....