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When students walk into my class on Martin Luther King Jr. for the first time, they are unlikely to know that King favored Sweden's democratic socialism over U.S....

The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq. By Kenneth M. Pollack. Random House, 494 pp., $29.95....

Martin Scorsese's obsession with pain and suffering--and, more to the point, martyrdom--dates back to his breakthrough 1973 film Mean Streets, whose main character repeatedly puts his hand...

Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would do so much better to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost its bell, wandering the world, meaning no har...

To worry publicly about the increasing disparities of wealth and income in this country is to invite the charge of fomenting “class warfare.” Nevertheless, consider: Top CEOs earn 1,000 times the p...

George Bush’s “faith-based initiative” has generated fierce debate at every turn—in the courts, in Congress and in public opinion. Yet in some respects, the initiative is already in place....

Problem-solving requires anticipating long-range problems as well as addressing immediate crises. Columnist Molly Ivins understands this....

The text for our meditation is Luke 3:3-5 (NRSV): “Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, . ....

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)...

Picture the old man with the baby in his arms. He stands chuckling with giddy joy, or perhaps he gazes with streaming tears on his cheeks, or is lost in transfixed wonder. He says that this is enough now, he is ready to die. He has seen salvation and he can depart in peace. But what has he seen, really?

At Christmas even the most Protestant among us can be drawn to the contemplation of Mary. It seems right to recall her humble courage, her receiving and carrying and giving birth, and her joy as she sang of the saving work of God.

Have our security measures cast out our fears? Or have they only diminished our capacity for love?

The church I serve is located in the midst of one of the busiest retail merchandizing areas in the country. Our closest neighbors are Bloomingdale’s, Marshall Field and Lord & Taylor....

America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. By Mark A. Noll. Oxford University Press, 602 pp., $35.00....

When women get together and talk turns to the topic of men, it's not uncommon for the conversation to end with someone saying, "Men!" in a certain tone of voice, while another adds, "Men are idiots...

Newcomers to the Buddhist tradition are often bewildered by the sheer variety of often contradictory perspectives and approaches....

In the 19th century, Alexis de Tocqueville praised the American ability to balance individual and community identities....

Thumbnail sketches of six pioneering efforts to bridge the gap between traditional seminary programs and the needs of leaders in multi­ethnic urban communities open this book....

If you knew what was going to happen to you in the morning, you'd never get out of bed," declares Phil (Timothy Spall) early in Mike Leigh's All or Nothing. Phil, a cabbie, does have a har...

To understand and appreciate the revisionist genius behind Far from Heaven, directed by Todd Haynes, one needs to appreciate the cinematic impact of Douglas Sirk (1900-1987), a  direc...