May 3, 2003

The intellectuals and policymakers who want America to maintain its “unipolar” dominance in the world agreed that the U.S. needed to overthrow the Baathist regime in Iraq. For the most part, they emphasized the threat of Saddam’s (alleged) weapons of mass destruction and their own hope of transforming Middle East.

A viable two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is dying; perhaps it is already dead. This reality should prompt new theological and political analysis among Christians and others who yearn for justice, peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.

The stone box that possibly held the skeletal remains of James the brother of Jesus has continued to come under critical scrutiny. Should the church and scholars take seriously this item of unknown origin sold to an antiquities collector? Did one hand or two scratch the Aramaic inscription on the limestone ossuary? Does the inscribed phrase “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus” really narrow the box to the Holy Family?

If the United States and Great Britain are “two nations separated by a common language,” then perhaps Christian theologians of the two countries are “separated by a common theology.” American and British theologians often find themselves in significant agreement—drawing on similar sources and reaching shared conclusions—but geographical distance as well as the very different church-state relations in the two nations have meant that Christians in one region are often unaware of theological