Latest Articles
Not optimistic
A theology of hope
Plato was wrong: John 1:(1-9), 10-18
John is trying to describe an event, an advent, an epiphany without parallel.
It takes a village
When Knopf advertised Updike’s novel as “a Bildungsroman describing the education, romantic and otherwise, of Owen Mackenzie,” critics knew that the ending would ...
Standard deviation
When Alfred Charles Kinsey was hired as an assistant professor of zoology at Indiana University in 1920, he began a two-decade study of the gall wasp, collecting over 1 million samples....
Hail, Mary: The mother of God shouldn't show up only on Christmas
Several years ago, early in Advent, I received an interesting note from the sixth-graders in the church school. “Dear Mr. Buchanan: We have some questions about Christmas....
Getting religion: Idolatrous invocations
Democrats have to get religion. So argue the political pundits and analysts in the wake of the Democrats’ defeat in November....
Century Marks
Zero tolerance for torture: In 1989 Sister Dianna Ortiz, a missionary teacher among the Mayan people, was abducted and tortured by Guatemalan security forces whose boss was an American....
What I want for Christmas: A prayer rug
I am surprising my wife, Lisa, with a rug for Christmas, and since she isn’t a reader of this magazine, I trust my secret is safe with you. We weren’t looking for a rug; it just showed up....
Pro-life profiles up in new U.S. Senate: Senator Harry Reid becomes Democratic minority leader
Senate Democrats, whose party officially supports abortion rights, have elected an abortion opponent as their leader....
Woman named head of Baptist seminary: Molly Marshall at Central Baptist in Kansas
Molly Marshall has been elected president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, becoming the first female president of an accredited Baptist seminary....
Presbyterians fire two over Hezbollah meeting: A controversial delegation
In the midst of tense debates with Jewish leaders, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has fired two employees who were part of a controversial delegation that met with Hezbollah officials in Lebanon....
'Look for union collar'? Canada clergy organize: Low wages, abuse by congregants
Ministers of the United Church of Canada, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, have launched an unprecedented drive to unionize, saying they have been victims of harassment and emotional a...
Americans' belief in God is high but nuanced, study says: Polling the populace
A new analysis of how strongly Americans believe in God finds no upward trends in atheism, agnosticism and doubt....
Anglican study says women bishops needed: Traditionalists dissent
The Church of England will be “increasingly isolated and anachronistic” unless it accepts women as bishops, a working party of the Anglican Church has concluded....
Longtime seminary president to retire: Carnegie Calian of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Carnegie Samuel Calian, among the longest-serving and most successful seminary presidents in the nation, will retire in January 2006 after 25 years at the helm of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary....
Data bite: Salvation Army: champion fund-raisers
The Salvation Army has returned to the top of the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the nation’s 400 most successful fund-raising organizations, the newspaper reported....
Langdon Gilkey (1919-2004) Theologian for a 'time of troubles': Theologian for a 'time of troubles'
Langdon Gilkey, a prominent Protestant theologian who wrote and spoke frequently about the relationship between religion and science, died on November 19 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 85....