Latest Articles
Guest appearance: The grace in being the stranger
According to Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of Great Britain, the Hebrew Bible contains only one commandment to love the neighbor but no less than 36 commands to love the stranger....
Showing up: Matthew 21:23-32
A missionary friend was scheduled to speak about his mission work at a distant church. He got up before daybreak that Sunday morning and drove 300 miles, preached at two services and spent the afternoon speaking with members of the congregation. As he was leaving that evening, the treasurer of the church gave him an envelope, which he tucked in his pocket for the ride home. It was very late when he returned home. As he undressed, he remembered the envelope. He turned on the light in the bathroom and opened it. Out fell a check with his name written on it in bold letters. Under his name were the words: A million thanks! It was signed by the treasurer.
Dinner reservations: Matthew 21:33-46
The first Sunday of October is World Communion Sunday. Christians around the world remember that we are linked with brothers and sisters of all colors and languages. There is no better time to remind ourselves of this truth than in these days, when so much of the world is divided into a multitude of warring camps.
Keep it to yourself: Is there an upside to gossip?
Like W. C. Fields and most Christians, I spend a good deal of time reading the Bible, looking for loopholes. Recently, I focused on getting off the hook with respect to the sin of gossip....
Body language of the soul: Grace will have to be sufficient
When I was a child, I found repetition comforting. No one taught me this. I discovered it on my own, and it seemed to come naturally to me....
The Sounds of Slavery: Discovering African American History Through Songs, Sermons, and Speech
I was daydreaming at a stoplight recently when the sound of thunder shook me from m...
Radical Wisdom: A Feminist Mystical Theology
Feminism and mysticism have always held a wary view of each other: feminists borrowed from Marx the belief that spirituality funct...
Crusading spirit
Like many John Le Carré novels, The Constant Gardener boasts a gripping, intricately plotted narrative that makes it ideal for the movies....
Sound alternatives
Everything In BetweenSelf-released, Christian rockDanny OertliBalancing all-American rock with ballads, Danny Oertli is a Christian musician with a difference. When he sings "Thank You, Jesus, for keeping hope alive" on "Mommy Paints the Sky," he know what he's singing about—the song is inspired by the death of his high-school sweetheart, who had become his wife. In the same album, Oertli proves he can rock in "Fight for Me" (with its dirty Wurlitzer electric piano) and in the breathless, pulsing "Nothing."
Tiger mothers: Holding the president accountable
Despite a growing protest movement against the Iraq war, President Bush remains determined to “stay the course.” He offers sympathy to grieving parents, but his attention seems to be elsewhere....
Beginnings: Schools represent a community's deepest values
I read over the articles in this issue on teenage spirituality while traveling to my high school reunion in western Pennsylvania....
Cosmic design: Leaving God in the gaps
Controversies over the teaching of evolution are back in the news....
Century Marks
Not bread alone: While most media sources are reporting the famine in Niger, few of them mention the issue of population growth, says John F. Rohe. Niger has 12 million people, but its population is projected to grow to 53 million by 2050 despite widespread loss of life. Niger's fertility rate—8 children per woman—is the highest in the world. While food aid is urgently needed, it must be accompanied by funding for family planning (www.caglecartoons.com). To our readers: When you access amazon.com from the Century's Web site, the Century earns a percentage of each sale. Thank you!
ELCA says no to gay pastors, blessings: Delegates decline to authorize existing practices
On the face of it, the nation’s largest Lutheran church didn’t budge on issues of homosexuality....
ELCA adopts accord with Methodists, stance on Israel, new hymnal: Lutherans and Methodists to share communion
In what one official called the “penultimate” step toward full communion with the United Methodist Church, delegates at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s biennial assembly overwhelmingly...
Religious right rails at high court rulings: The second Justice Sunday event
Speakers at a rally designed to support socially conservative nominees to federal courts decried several decades of Supreme Court rulings on social issues, but made little direct mention of the cu...
Methodist mother joins war protest in Texas: Celeste Zappala with Cindy Sheehan
Celeste Zappala, a United Methodist from Philadelphia, went to Texas last month to join friend Cindy Sheehan—also a mother who lost a son in Iraq. Their roadside antiwar protest near George W....