Latest Articles
Scholars ask academy to keep large meetings: American Academy of Religion
Hundreds of members of the large American Academy of Religion have petitioned the AAR board of directors to rescind last year’s decision to hold its annual meetings separately from the Society of B...
Baptist groups like new ecumenical body: Christian Churches Together
Leaders of the American Baptist Churches in the USA and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship say they are excited about potential opportunities for formal dialogue with other U.S....
Israel keeps Greek patriarch on hold: Reported ties with Arafat
In response to a series of legal challenges, Israel’s Supreme Court has frozen the appointment of the Greek patriarch of the Holy Land, Irineos I, whose position was to have been approved by Israel...
Briefly noted
Catholic leaders criticized the decision March 1 by the California Supreme Court requiring Catholic Charities to pay for birth control as part of its prescription plan for employees....
The problem with The Passion: Braveheart Christianity
The Buddha once remarked that understanding his instruction is like “trying to catch a poisonous snake in the wild”: it’s all too easy to get bitten....
Christians and Jews: Reactions to The Passion of the Christ
Years ago I was part of a religion class in which students were asked to share their religious autobiographies....
Passion pointers: Suggestions from the American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee suggests that Passion plays should take these points into consideration:...
High fidelity: Dogged devotion
I live in the north country mountains, where winter begins in late October and gives up, some years, in early May....
Love letter: To Harriet
Dear Harriet: After we cried over the recent death of one of our heroes and friends, John Tietjen of (Lutheran) Seminex days, we also smiled to read that at the 50th anniversary of his ordination, ...
On the wild side: Isaiah 43:16-21
Isaiah knew his congregation. His word from the Lord spoke into the chaos and confusion of a people who had suffered not only a disruption of life, but also a disrupted understanding of God. Their cherished expectations of what it meant to be the covenant people had crumbled along with the destroyed Jerusalem. God had allowed this destruction of their naïve theology, and now they were exiled from both the land and the notion that God would protect them. It was this befuddled congregation that assembled to hear Isaiah’s sermons.
It's in the details: Luke 19:28-40; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Life is details—phones that keep ringing, e-mail that has to be returned, computers that crash, copy machines that jam, and children who are sick when we need to be at work. We struggle with the details of bodies that don’t work as they should, with doctors, specialists, medical tests and pills. Our children juggle homework, athletics, orthodontists and piano lessons. Then we all go to church on Sunday, and what do we find but more details?
Crowd control: A critique of The Passion of the Christ
Every version of the Passion story deviates fundamentally from the New Testament, which contains four divergent Gospels rather than one conflated version....
Habits for young hearts
When I began working in youth ministry in the late 1970s, the word “discipleship” was everywhere....
City: Urbanism and Its End
Some city dwellers still remember porch-sitting and leisurely walks to the corner store for ice cream....
Simply put: Christ's mission in 75 words or less
A good friend of mine dropped out of seminary, entered the business world, became a successful executive recruiter and migrated finally to management consulting, at which he is an expert....