Latest Articles
Katrina: How to respond to tragedy?
For the second time in ten months our attention has been commanded by a natural catastrophe—there was the tsunami this past December in Southeast Asia and now Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Co...
Give and take: Leadership as a spiritual practice
Is leadership, specifically pastoral leadership, a spiritual practice?...
Balance sheet: Matthew 22:15-22
I was emphasizing to parents of confirmands that the young people should be with their families in worship as part of their preparation for membership. “I’m afraid we don’t have time for worship,” one mother told me after the meeting. Her words were soothing and gentle, yet they sounded condescending, as if she were explaining something to a not-very-bright child. “We’ve committed to soccer and cheerleading for my youngest on Sunday mornings. We have a full plate."
An invitation: Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14
There have always been those who reject the gifts they’re offered.
God in the hurricane: A confession of faith
The writers of great hymns were deeply aware of the relationship between God and the forces of nature....
A disaster of 'biblical' proportions? Four biblical themes to ponder: Four biblical themes to ponder
Commentators in the media have often invoked the term biblical to describe the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which has gone beyond our imagination and our explanatory categories. The term has not been used with any precision—it seems to mean simply vast or awe-inspiring.What would it mean to view the catastrophe in genuinely biblical terms? Four biblical themes inform my own pondering.
The Doors of the Sea
December’s Indian Ocean tsunami forced a haunting question to emerge anew: how could an omnipotent God permit such evil?...
Faith, Reason and the Existence of God/The Creativity of God
Denys Turner and Oliver Davies previously collaborated on Silence and...
Proof of love
Great plays tend to make mediocre movies. The elements that make a play successful don’t always provide the plot and visuals that are the keys to memorable cinema....
Teaching moments: Tribute to a beloved professor
Some theologians seem to disdain the church as they shine their scholarly light on the church’s triviality, unfaithfulness and banality....
A desire for God: Pilgrimage to Taizé
The enormous ecumenical impact of the Taizé community, with its haunting music and its tradition of silent prayer and meditative chant, is astonishing given that the community never promoted itself...
Century Marks
Carpetbaggers: Christian Exodus is a movement of politically active believers who wish to establish a government that operates on biblical principles—as they interpret them. The group has its eye on several counties in South Carolina (it is mum about which ones), and hopes members move there and take over the city councils, school boards and sheriffs’ offices. The long-term goal? A takeover of the whole state. (Los Angeles Times, August 28).To our readers: When you access amazon.com from the Century's Web site, the Century earns a percentage of each sale. Thank you!
The making of Taizé Roger Schutz (1915-2005): Roger Schutz (1915-2005)
Almost everyone engaged in the search for Christian unity has at some point received important impulses from the Taizé community....
Taizé founder buried in service led by Catholic cardinal: 12,000 attended funeral
An estimated 12,000 Christians from many denominations attended the funeral of Brother Roger, the Protestant founder of the Taizé community in the picturesque Burgundy region of France....
Not in our backyard: Means and ends in Iraq
Philosopher Immanuel Kant argued that it is always wrong to treat a person or a people purely as a means to an end....
Poll: Teach evolution and creationism: Two-thirds support teaching both
Nearly two-thirds of Americans support teaching creationism alongside evolution in public schools, according to a new poll, but there is far less agreement over who gets to decide what is taught....
Defeated in votes, American Bapist conservatives organize: The Great Commission Network
Rebuffed at national meetings of American Baptists that declined to adopt tough stances against homosexuality, some conservative leaders will meet this month near Chicago to expand an alternate mis...
Presbyterian panel opens window for gays: Local congregations and gay clergy
A special panel has urged the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to maintain its ban on noncelibate gay clergy, but the panel also wants local congregations to determine when to apply—or bypass—that stan...