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No time to linger: John 20:1-18
Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. Dark. First light. Dawn. A few minutes of extraordinary encounter. This scene at the tomb of Jesus bestows a supreme gift upon the beloved of God. Time and place and character unfold and then reveal a threshold through which the hearer of the word may enter. Here, as in an icon, you experience Mary’s transformation from desolation to animation, from inertia to action.
Text messages: Gadamer, Derrida and how we read
The literary phenomenon of “deconstruction” is regarded by many as an irresponsible fad that has now become passé....
Israel's nonsacrifice: Land grab
When historians look back on the current false peace between Israel and the Palestinians to determine what ended the Palestinian dream of a viable state, they’ll find answers in a February 24 Ne...
Characters: English soles, psychic powers and doll houses
Trapped on a plane on a runway in Atlanta the other evening, I had three hours to catch up on back issues of the Times Literary Supplement. Instinctively, I looked for M.E.M.O material....
Rare alignment: The annunciation and Good Friday falling on the same day
One of my desk drawers is filled with old calendars, which I’ve been saving as a prop for a faulty memory. I suspect it’s a fruitless exercise....
Dazzling truth: The terrific story of Easter
"Easter is a terrific story,” says Tony Hendra, an actor, satirist and author of the wonderful book Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Life....
Kids these days
path from innocence to experience is inevitably complicated: we are tempted to think that the world has become treacherous, not that...
Spirit and Flesh
If you want to understand how Christian conservatives think, act and interact, here is a balanced narrative combined wit...
Trusting and believing
A pair of British imports explores faith of different kinds. Millions, directed by Danny Boyle from a script by Frank Cottrell Boyce, is by far the slicker of the two....
Keanu to the rescue
Hell wants him, heaven won’t take him, earth needs him.” So proclaims the poster for Constantine. It sounds like an ad for a previous Keanu Reeves movie, the ridiculous Devil’s Advocate...
Beginnings: An early Lent
Those of us who spend a major portion of life in church keep track of time by the sequence of the liturgical or church year as well as by the calendar year....
Unlisted: Influential evangelicals
List-making is a peculiarly modern obsession. The top 20 basketball teams. The top ten best sellers. Ten ways to trim your thighs....
Century Marks
Acting out: Playwright Arthur Miller, who died last month, likened politics to acting....
Parochial politics: The religious divide in the Ukraine
Viktor Yushchenko’s 52-to-42 percent victory over Viktor Yanukovych in the December 26 election in Ukraine reflected not only the centuries-old schism between western and eastern Ukraine, but also ...
Star-spangled hoops: Not all schools salute the flag
At this time of the winter countless high school basketball teams are trying to dribble, pass and shoot their way to a state championship....