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I struggle to make peace with Jesus ordering the sea into peace. If we were to stumble across a time traveler’s videotape and find that it all happened just as Mark reports, I’d still be troubled. Because this isn’t the way the world works. People don’t go around saying, “Peace! Be still!” to the wind and the waves, and find that the wind and the waves obey. And I don’t like the “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” business. Of course Jesus’ disciples are afraid!

I don’t want to leave my body or its loves. I wouldn’t rather be at home with the Lord; I want to be right here.

The Jews of Jesus’ time, the preacher intoned, were slavishly devoted to the practices of their ancestors. They studied scripture but did not apply it....

The war in Iraq has begun to shatter the ranks of the neoconservatives—the faction that gave us this disaster. The most prominent turncoat is Francis Fukuyama, whose forecast played no small part in the neoconservative project of a war that was to make the Middle East safe for Halliburton and Republican political consultants. America at the Crossroads is Fukuyama's apologia for apostasy. He has much to regret.

I think I might qualify as a Crunchy Conservative. I wear Birkenstocks whenever weather permits....

Paul Bremer landed in Baghdad on May 12, 2003, and departed little more than a year later, on June 28, 2004....

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Gordon Wakefield, the editor of this volume’s 1983 predecessor, began his introduction with the observation that the word...

He introduces each poet with a brief biography or an overview of the poet’s work....

According to ancient Hindu texts, when a man dies, his wife has three choices....

In the two-CD effort Why Not Sea Monsters? Songs from the Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament, (Carpet Square) Justin Roberts steers clear of any ham-fisted agenda while staying faithful to the power and majesty of the Bible stories, and making them his stories. On the “Hebrew Scriptures” CD, Roberts gets things off to a clever start with “Why Not a Spark?” Singing in a style that suggests John Lennon, James Taylor and Glenn Tilbrook, Roberts lays out the tale of creation as if God were a smiling child in a swirling cosmic sandbox: “On the fourth day / God said, Where are the stars? / Where’s Mercury, Venus and Mars?/ Where’s all those old rusty cars? / Wait, that’s later!”

My interest in books leads to odd behavior sometimes: checking out the content of the bookshelves when I am visiting someone’s home or a colleague’s study, sneaking a look at whatever my airplane s...

The American addiction to oil is like an addiction to amphetamines, says Alfred W....

Americans produce 472 billion pounds of trash each year, including 96 billion pounds of wasted food—more than 300 pounds per person. (Discover, June).

The Episcopal Church sidestepped a potential crisis early this month when a married father of two was elected bishop of San Francisco over three openly gay contenders....

The United Methodist Church’s highest court has decided not to reconsider a case in which it permitted a Virginia pastor to prevent an openly gay man from joining his church....

The World Council of Churches launched in mid-May a three-year joint study project with the Vatican aimed at developing a shared code of conduct on religious conversion and proselytizing. ...

When it comes to questions of whether to ordain gay and lesbian rabbis and perform same-sex commitment ceremonies, Reform and Orthodox Jews know where their movements stand....

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced this month that 75 national staff jobs will be cut at its Louisville, Kentucky, headquarters, along with 55 positions in its overseas missionary force....

After years of conflict centering mainly on the issue of homosexuality, a large, southern California–based regional body of the American Baptist Churches U.S.A....