Latest Articles
Search and restore: Mark 9:38-50; James 5:13-20
Perhaps Jesus is too hopeful, too optimistic about these outsiders to suit our temperament.
The elusive nature of evil: Part three
In the spring of 2004, the serial killer known as BTK shocked experts around the world by reappearing after what were thought to be 20 years of dormancy....
Emerging model: A visit to Jacob's Well
If yesteryear’s evangelical church was a castle in the exurbs, Jacob's Well is a rehabilitated loft in the city. Evangelical churches attract young people with spaces stripped of Christian symbols and tradition; worshipers at JW like its dark wood, stained glass and high ceilings. Other churches would be thrilled to have 1,000 attenders; JW worries that it will lose the intimacy that nurtures community and friendship. And stewardship? Jacob's Well urges members to give time or money only out of gratitude.
Wisdom works: James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37
The crucified and resurrected Christ becomes the standard against which to measure all accounts of wisdom.
Good old days?
Life expectancy in the developed world has nearly doubled in the past century....
Hidden history
One of the great dilemmas of contemporary historians is how to recover the history of people who left no written hi...
Unrehearsed
The first act of the satirical comedy Little Miss Sunshine has an affable scattershot loopiness....
Talking points: Reading scripture together across the boundaries of faith
During the first Iraq war, after the United States started dropping bombs as a prelude to Desert Storm, homiletics professor David Buttrick surveyed mainline churches around the country to see if t...
Can we coexist? Refusing to be motivated by the politics of fear: Refusing to be motivated by the politics of fear
Five years into the “war on terror,” are Americans any safer?...
Century Marks
Eyes to see: When two of Motti Tamam’s brothers were killed by a Hezbollah rocket, the Israeli asked that his brothers’ eyes be available for transplant. One of the recipients was an Arab, Nikola Elias, who was blind in one eye and had little vision in the other. The two men later met, shook hands and exchanged phone numbers (ABC News, August 10).
Whodunit? A 9/11 conspiracy theory: A 9/11 conspiracy theory
According to theologian David Ray Griffin, the attacks of 9/11 were not the work of jihadist suicidal terrorists but were orchestrated by the Bush administration to provide the pretext for its mili...
Revgals online: Making friends in the blogosphere
I never meant to start a blog. One day I was reading online and followed one link to another link, then landed on a page where a woman was describing how she told her young daughter that a beloved congregant had died. She wrote with graceful prose and a few pinches of well-timed humor. I kept on reading. On another site, a preacher discussed fingernail polish, evoking a spirited conversation about whether or not the well-dressed clergywoman should wear bright colors in the pulpit. Eventually I left a comment, and then another. Then I began checking back to read the comments of other bloggers. I was hooked. Soon I had a blog of my own.
Church voice on war measured, or muffled? Sparse news attention for statements on reconciliation: Sparse news attention for statements on reconciliation
As bombs and rockets rained from the skies in Lebanon and Israel, the American presidents of international Lutheran and Reformed fellowships joined with the World Council of Churches to plead for a...
Palestinian issue at root of violence, says ex-Lebanon hostage: Need to understand complex history and relationships
Benjamin Weir, a former Presbyterian missionary who was held hostage for more than a year in Beirut two decades ago and has maintained friends in Lebanon ever since, says failure to reach a compreh...
Edgar urges move to key 'middle' values: Follow Jesus' lead in working for peace and justice
Bob Edgar, who steered the National Council of Churches out of financial disarray after becoming general secretary in January of 2000, has been known as a United Methodist minister who could beat t...
Progressive Baptists urge end to Iraq war: Funds needed for Katrina relief
The Progressive National Baptist Convention continued its call for an end to the war in Iraq at its annual meeting in Cincinnati, saying resources spent on the conflict are needed to address the af...