Latest Articles
Malaysian model: A different kind of Islamic state
Delegates to the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur in August had the novel experience of seeing their sessions covered in the Malaysian media with the in...
People power: How majorities rule denominations
Many Episcopalians, Methodists and Presbyterians must cringe when they read the newsletters and Web pages of activists within their denominations....
Grounded: "In his will is our peace"
Here is a lesson in monastic stability, transposed to a domestic key: I am invited to give a talk to a general chapter of Benedictine monastic communities, meeting at a historic abbey in Italy....
Moviegoing: Report from the Montreal World Film Festival
Veteran Italian director Ettore Scola begins his latest film, Gente di Roma (People of Rome), by following an older couple going through their morning routine—she preparing food, he dressing...
Where there's Smokey: A new symbol for proper stewardship
I want to propose Smokey Bear, who turned 60 in August, as a new symbol for proper stewardship. We Martys became Smokeyites during our years of camping....
Windfall: Luke 17:11-19
There are moments when you just know what’s coming next. No one has to confirm it for you; the feeling in your gut is confirmation enough. After I lay on the ultrasound table for two minutes, the technician left me alone while she went to find the radiologist. I knew I was in trouble. No one had biopsied anything. No one had uttered the word “cancer,” much less “lobular invasive carcinoma,” but I knew.
Stay the course: 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5
While wrestling with me and my hesitations, down along the riverbank, God whispered in my ear, “Barb: If you are going to tell a story, tell my story.” Ever since that day, honoring that stipulation has been part of the privilege and part of the burden in this vocation called ministry.
Favorite poems
This simple happening dazzles me, like most of this former marine lieutenant's poems....
Using American Power
Walter Russell Mead is one of the most compelling interpreters of American foreign policy....
Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America
The cover of Peter Stearns’s book gets your attention....
One of the boys
Jacob Aaron Estes’s debut feature is being marketed as a Columbine-era fable about a bully who gets his comeuppance. But the film works on levels far more precipitous and challenging....
A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry
A Cappella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry.
Edited by Ann Hostetler. University of Iowa Press, 199 pp., $19.95 paperback....
Measuring success: How the Century is doing
How are we doing? The editors and staff of this magazine periodically ask themselves that question. Are we succeeding?...
Shared vision: Catholicity across the theological spectrum
Talk about unity amid diversity in the church can seem hollow, especially as people confront deeply controversial issues....
Century Marks
Listen up: Judaism is a noisy religion, according to Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of Great Britain: Jews pray together loudly....
None of the above: Why I won't be voting for president
As has been the case for the past few presidential elections, on Election Day I will almost certainly cast my vote once again for none of the above. Here is why:...
Religious insiders: Mainline Protestants still dominate
Mainline Protestant denominations have steadily declined in membership for four decades in the U.S., so it was not surprising to learn recently that Protestants overall are losing, or have lost, th...
Religious Left makes political push: Sending a message to Republicans
With a full-page ad in the New York Times, a flashlight-illuminated protest on Broadway and a plea from rock star Bono for spiritually motivated, poverty-fighting activism, the Religious Lef...