Latest Articles
Briefly noted
German officials have suspended a lawyer’s passport to prevent him from traveling to Iran to attend a proposed conference questioning whether the Holocaust ever happened....
Chariot of fire: 2 Kings 2:1-12
Elijah, the great prophet who has traveled the length of Israel and spoken the word of the Lord directly to Israel’s king, is now about to take the longest journey of all....
Seminary 2050: Part monastery, part seminar, part mission agency
Seminary programs should be one part monastery, one part seminar and one part mission agency....
Race still matters: Moral amnesia in America
In 1970 a black man named Henry “Dickie” Marrow was murdered in Oxford, North Carolina, allegedly for making a sexual comment to a white woman. Despite eyewitness testimonies, the killers, who were known to be Klansmen, were acquitted by an all-white jury. Vernon Tyson, a United Methodist minister, was one of two white people who attended Marrow’s funeral. His son Timothy was 10. Read the CENTURY's interview with Timothy Tyson, author of Blood Done Sign My Name.
Melancholy leaders: Strength through suffering
What prompts our fascination with Lincoln? Perhaps it is our frustration with the quality of current politicians....
Time capsule: Flawed prediction
The theological education issue of this magazine in 1958 featured a ruckus-raising editorial, “Domesticity in Our Seminaries” (April 23)....
Seminary 2050: Parish-based education
As denominations continue to devolve into loose confederations of churches, the seminaries will find themselves in direct relationship with congregations. ...
Seminary 2050: Committed to professional excellence
Theological schools and church leaders need to accept collective and unambiguous accountability for developing excellent clergy—leaders with the qualifications, capabilities and credentials to shap...
Seminary 2050: Global pressures, Latino realities
By 2050 Latinos and Latinas will constitute at least one fourth of the U.S. population....
Seminary 2050: Connected to God, connecting others to God
What we want theological education to look like depends on what sort of church we want, and on what we think ministers are for....
Seminary 2050: Communities of learning
From the Academy of ancient Greece to the medieval schools, education was understood to be centered upon conversation (conversor, literally meaning “being together”)....
Seminary 2050: Knowledge and piety
"Unite the pair so long disjoined, knowledge and vital piety,” wrote Charles Wesley in the 1763....
Seminary 2050: Formation in a common life
Way too much emphasis is placed on making theological education accessible and convenient....
Seminary 2050: Videos for pilgrim leaders
By 2050 the training of ministers will have shifted to where the students are located. Teachers will travel a third of their time....
Dealing with Hamas: Palestinians make their choice
Hamas was formed in 1987 as an Islamist movement in opposition to Israel. It was linked to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood....
Starting over: Genesis 9:8-17; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15
Sometimes I’m watching TV news and reach the point where I cannot take in all the violence and destruction. So I turn off the television and try to get involved in something that will take my mind off the news. God, however, does not have that option. God does not have a remote control to change the channels. God cannot move to the suburbs or close a door to hide from the violence. God’s eyes are not averted. God’s heart is not numbed.
Alto confirmation reflects national division: Bush lauds "fair-minded" new justice
A new era began this month at the Supreme Court as Samuel Alito took a crucial seat on the bench....
Textbook case
Public schools have been a primary battleground between the despisers and defenders of religion....
Hints of redemption
Poetry reviews appear in religious journals more rarely than poems, and poems are rare enough....