Features
In full accord: Paul’s social gospel
The doctrine of justification really occurs only in Romans and Galatians. But wherever you look in Paul's letters, you see him arguing and working for the unity of the church.
Allah and the Trinity: A Christian response to Muslims
The oneness of God is the principle at the very heart of Islam. This is the central issue for Muslims disputing Christian claims about God.
Martha’s problem: What is the ‘better part’?
"Mary has chosen the better part," says Jesus, "and it will not be taken away from her." This is not what Jesus is supposed to say.
True Grit
True Grit is the last thing you'd expect from the movies' most resolutely ironic brother act, the writer-directors Joel and Ethan Coen: a labor of love. They set out to adapt Charles Portis's charming novel faithfully, correcting the errors of the 1969 Henry Hathaway version, a stock western memorable only for John Wayne's performance as the tippling marshal Rooster Cogburn.
Books
Christian Ethics in a Technological Age, by Brian Brock
Christians have often used technology—from electric guitars to PowerPoint presentations to blogs—in the service of witnessing to their faith....
Mission Mississippi
Started in 1992 by a loose coalition of white and black evangelicals in Jackson, Mission Mississippi's early efforts were geared toward big events. Later the focus shifted to personal relationships.
Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid
First published in 2000, this book was the definitive account of the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in the vacuum left after the defeat of the Soviet Union and the retreat of the rest of the wo...
Christian Mission, by Dana L. Robert
From its earliest days the Christian movement has manifested a powerful desire to cross cultural borders on a grand scale....
How the rich got richer
Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson tell a story that is at once familiar and unfamiliar. The familiar part is that inequality has grown dramatically in the U.S. What’s less familiar is how this came about.
The Lonely Polygamist, by Brady Udall
Brady Udall's novel is an exercise in surprise. Golden Richards, the Mormon patriarch—with four wives and 28 children—is a tragicomic character....
C Street, by Jeff Sharlet
In his best-selling 2008 book, The Family, Jeff Sharlet probed the sprawling but mostly secretive work of a longstanding Christian outreach to political leaders in the United States and, i...
Departments
Dust to Dust
Although abstract, Linda McCray's work is rich in symbolism: that of color (the blue-black of the void and the purple of Lent) and of material, with ash and sand from Jerusalem affecting both color and texture. McCray is a painter, designer,...
Superstitious prayers
Faithful prayer asks not merely for healing but for patience and discernment and continuing faithfulness. By comparison, a superstitious act is easy and instantaneous.
Living traditions
"Are we witnessing the death of America's denominations?" asks Russell D. Moore, pointing out that people tend to choose a church based mostly on the nursery or the music. This is not new information.
Second-semester longings
I wasn't sure how many people I would find at our first weekly Eucharist
of the term. Driving was impossible, even if one mustered the will to
dig out one's car for the third time in three weeks.
Egypt's uprising
No one knows how the Egyptian drama will play out. But it has so far
confirmed the extraordinary power that can be exerted by ordinary people
when they are organized, determined and peaceful.
News
San Francisco seminary to close Pasadena campus
Because of a significant budget shortfall, the Presbyterian-related San Francisco Theological Seminary has announced that it will close its 21-year-old Southern California campus in Pasadena on June 30....
Bringing guns to church
The way pastor Jonathan Wilkins sees it, members of his Baptist
church in Thomaston, Georgia, should have the right to carry guns into
worship services to protect the congregation. Wilkins's Baptist...
Labor ruling has ‘religious’ colleges shaking
A small Catholic college in Riverdale, New York, recently got some
news that sent shivers through many religious schools: part-time faculty
have a right to form a union on campus. But that wasn't the worst of...
PCUSA court clears cleric in gay marriage case
The top court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has found a Boston
minister not guilty of violating church rules against performing gay
marriages. The narrow ruling keeps the churchwide ban in place....
Pop singer Justin Bieber also low-key evangelist
With a smooth voice, a signature mop of hair and a string of hits,
Canadian singer Justin Bieber has accumulated millions of fans, and last
year he sold 3.7 million albums in the United States. Now Bieber's...
Catholic relics and papal remains
When Vatican officials announced recently that Pope Benedict XVI's
2005 election rendered his organ donor card null and void, they offered
no specific reason for the change. The curious history of papal body...
Obama picks new round of faith-based advisers
President Obama has named some top U.S. church leaders to an advisory
council on faith-based programs, but the list of appointments is
drawing questions about a lack of representatives from minority faiths....
Muslim Brotherhood figure disdained U.S. morality
Is the pop standard "Baby It's Cold Outside" a heartwarming ode to
winter romance or the worst example of American hedonism? After hearing
the song at a Colorado church dance in the late 1940s, Egyptian exchange...
Lectionary
Sunday, March 20, 2011: Psalm 121; Genesis 12:1-4a; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
Faith, birth, vocation: our readings offer us profound, intimidating terms for thinking about what it means to be in relationship with God.
Sunday, March 13, 2011: Genesis 2:15-17
The serpent was right: when Eve and Adam ate the fruit, they did not die; they saw more clearly.