Latest Articles
Pope: Unbaptized babies no longer in limbo: "Never a defined truth of faith"
Clarifying Catholic thinking on one of the most perplexing theological enigmas, Pope Benedict XVI has explicitly endorsed a Vatican report offering hope that unbaptized infants can reach heaven....
Land grant: Israel and the promises of God
Neither Jews nor Christians (except for some evangelicals) were theologically prepared for the 20th-century return of the Jewish people to sovereignty in their ancient homeland of Israel....
Islamic wisdom: What Christians can learn
After focusing early in his life on topics in analytic philosophy and religion, David Burrell, C.S.C., turned to studying comparative issues in Judaism, Christianity and Islam....
Benedict's misreading: Baffled by the Regensburg speech
Having been a student of Islamic philosophy and teacher of Islam for a quarter century, I was baffled by the skewed presentation of Islam that Pope Benedict XVI offered in his speech at Regensburg,...
Unchecked sources: The media and a culture of fear
Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser in the Carter administration, believes that the Bush administration’s use of the term “war on terror” has created a culture of fear that’s had “a pern...
Handel scandal: Anti-Judaic themes
I have never given much thought to Titus, Roman destroyer of Jerusalem in the year 70, or seen reason to rejoice in the destruction of the Second Temple and the defeat of Israel....
Mindful: Psalm 8
Calvin Trillin’s lighthearted and best-selling tribute to his late wife, Alice, has made husbands like me nervous....
Homesick: John 14:8-17, 25-27; Acts 2:1-21
When I was attending a university in Germany, I lived alone and did research in the university library. Occasionally, I was aware of that peculiar kind of loneliness called homesickness....
Communion with the saints: A wider circle of fellow travelers
Several years ago I engaged in a public dialogue with a Roman Catholic theologian about prayers to the saints. I went into the discussion with my mind made up on the subject. We Protestants—especially we evangelicals—do not pray to anyone but God. Directing our prayers in any other direction is at best theologically confused and at worst idolatrous. I came away, though, a little less convinced that the theological case was as tightly shut as I had thought.
Tattooed: Body art goes mainstream
It’s not surprising that the tattooing phenomenon includes Christians. After all, the decision to get a tattoo is often informed by purposeful symbolism, and Christianity is a sacramental religion with rituals that outwardly mark an inward transformation. The act of being marked with crosses or doves follows a kind of incarnational logic.
Marked for life: The body's meaning should come from God
The practice of tattooing has nearly always been rejected in Christian tradition....
Horse Latitudes: Poems
Among Ireland’s best contemporary poets, Paul Muldoon pours forth a river of words resembling (to this Midwestern reviewer, at least) not so much Joyce’s L...
Between two worlds
It seems like yesterday that Indian-born director Mira Nair burst onto the international scene with Salaam Bombay! about the street children of that sprawling Asian city....
Blogging toward Sunday (Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53)
In this series, authors offer reflections on the Sunday lectionary texts....
Blogging toward Sunday (Acts 16:9-15)
In this series, authors offer reflections on the Sunday lectionary texts....