Latest Articles
Agencies in Iraq reduce operations: Cite escalation of hostilities
Church aid agencies working in Iraq are pulling out international staff, reviewing their programs in the face of continuing violence, and in at least one instance considering suspending operations ...
Briefly noted
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to consider an appeal of a lower court ruling that mealtime prayers at Virginia Military Institute are unconstitutional....
Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Third 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...
Anti-Semitism or anti-Judaism? The politics of recognition
When people speak loosely of anti-Semitism, do they have in mind a religiously derived separation from Judaism on the part of Christians historically, or a pernicious racialist theory?...
String theory: Guilty of work-righteousness
The children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” So spake Jesus (Luke 16:8) in a parable that preachers do not like or understand, and ...
Literary agent: A profile of Phyllis Tickle
In 1987 Phyllis Tickle, then the religion editor at Publisher’s Weekly, foresaw a rising demand for religious books....
Long goodbye: John 17:20-26; Acts 16:16-34
How do you say goodbye? It depends, I suppose, on the relationship—what it has grown to and what it will become. For Jesus, preparing to leave the close society of his disciples seems to have been a long process. Almost from the beginning he gently, or sometimes in exasperation, explained that the course his life was following would lead to profound changes in their lives. So he began saying goodbye early.
Good company: Genesis 11:1-9; John 14:8-17
George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, said that in order to form community, people must be engaged in a “demanding common task.” In his case the task was to rebuild the accommodation areas of Iona Abbey. The group that he led included people with considerable formal education, as well as people with little education. These men and women formed community out of purpose and in difficult conditions; they shared what they had and learned from each other. They built with stone and with their lives, even though they could not know what the results of their work would be.
Take and read
Christian ethics, like other theological disciplines, constantly rethinks its history in light of cu...
Take and read
Eire, a Reformation historian, writes of his early childhood in Cuba and his wrenching exile from his family and country at...
Take and read
This is a collection of Barton’s shrewd, discerning essays on such matters as “natural law” and prophetic ethics....
Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law
Janet Jackson’s recent display of her bare breast at Super Bowl halftime, the trials of Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart, and ...
The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life
It’s amazing and comforting to realize that world religions scholar Huston Smith, 84, has been toiling in the fields of the Lord for more than 40 years, teaching more than one generation of student...
From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries
Peter Lampe, professor of New Testament at Heidelberg, begins his magisterial book by giving us a definite ...
Rev. Parker's last stand: Fifty years of preaching
Carl Parker died recently. The Reverend Carl Parker....
Democratic virtues: Straddling the worlds of religion and politics
This magazine has long straddled the world of religion and politics, convinced that political awareness and engagement are part of faithful Christian living....
Intelligence choices: What price security?
The commission investigating the 9/11 attacks has heard plenty of complaints about the failure of U.S. counterterrorism. Officials have described agencies as underfunded and understaffed....