Latest Articles
Mennonite evangelists imprisoned in Vietnam: Targeted by authorities for months
More than two months after their arrest, three evangelists and a staff member of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam remain imprisoned, their status unknown....
Clinton spokesman learns ropes as church delegate: Mike McCurry
When Mike McCurry was press secretary for President Bill Clinton, the toughest part of his job was staying one step ahead of the White House press corps....
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Fourth in a series
In late 2003 President Bush said, in response to a reporter's question, that he believed Muslims and Christians "worship the same God." The remark sparked criticism from some Christians, who tho...
Welcome interruption: Letting the Bible question us
In a famous 1936 lecture, “The Presentation of New Testament Texts,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposed to the Confessing Church an alternative strategy of reading scripture....
Abuse at Abu Ghraib: Not aberrant but systemic
Both the International Red Cross and Amnesty International knew about the horrors of Abu Ghraib....
Rumor of saints: St. Expeditus
"Bibfeldt’s back” was the slogan of the University of Chicago Divinity School Association’s recent celebration of theologian Franz Bibfeldt after a decade of well-deserved neglect....
God's arms: Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15
Paul’s daunting promise to the Romans haunts me: “Suffering produces endurance,” he assures the Romans and us, “and endurance produces character and character produces hope.” Recently I stood in the pulpit of my church and looked over the top of a white, 32-inch-long casket at a young couple from my congregation. Their six-month-old son, who had been happy and healthy just days before, had died in his sleep. The unfathomable suffering of the family was shadowed by a church filled with mourners for whom the scene enacted their most dreaded fears.
Scandalous behavior: Luke 7:36–8:3
Each of the four Gospels tells about the woman who anoints Jesus while he is at table, and in each Gospel someone sharply rebukes her for her action. But Luke is unique: unlike event as told the other three Gospels, the act of anointing as told in Luke does not portend Jesus’ death. Instead, hospitality and table fellowship are the recurrent themes, and they are a clue to the meaning of this parable.
Price to pay: The misuse of embryos
A 43-year-old woman rolls slowly out of bed, having dreamt the night before of her fifth-grade classroom—a room she knew well before taking disability leave....
High anxiety
If life in America has improved so much since World War II, why do we feel so insecure and unhappy?...
Sexual Violence and American Manhood
Sexual violence against women—pervasive in our society—is largely hidden, as in the oppressive presence of date rape on university campuses....
Choosing Church: What Makes a Difference for Teens
Youth pastors hear an inordinate number of generalized and unsubstantiated statistics: X percent of adult Christians chose to f...
Inscribing the Text: Sermons and Prayers of Walter Brueggemann
A good preacher should be able to teach in a right and orderly way . . . be able to speak well . . ....
She Who Changes: Re-Imagining the Divine in the World
When Carol Christ’s mother was dying, with her husband and daughter flanking the death bed, Christ felt a sensation she had...
Joyful noise
Spanning the sonic globe, this roundup of recent albums highlights compelling music in different genres. Alongside some popular names are lesser-known artists who deserve notice....
French farce
The German occupation of France, a sinister and embarrassing epoch for the French, tends to be treated by them with dutiful solemnity or avoided altogether....
Gospel fantasy
If you’ve not read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, you’re in a shrinking group....