Latest Articles
Design matters: The city and the good life
Western ideas about good cities descend from Athens, Jerusalem and Rome....
In the Devil’s Snare, by Mary Beth Norton & The Salem Witch Trials, by Marilynne K. Roach
The early years of each decade seem to bring a new spate of books on the Salem witchcraft episode, as if to commemorate anew the tragic events that occurred in 1692-93....
Unplugged, by Paul McComas
Many who recover from clinical depression compare regaining their mental health to a religious epiphany, albeit a slow-developing one....
A deafening silence
When are religious leaders obligated to speak out against tyranny and atrocities? When is it prudent for them to keep silent so they can fight another day?...
Haunted by evil
Evil in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy. By Susan Neiman. Princeton University Press, 358 pp., $29.95....
The Skeptic, by Terry Teachout
Most adult Americans know something about H. L. Mencken even without having read anything he wrote....
Good cop, bad cop
Ron Shelton's powerfully unsettling Dark Blue is about the coming apart of a Los Angeles cop....
When I get to heaven
Is it dangerous to dwell upon heaven? Many of the world’s great religious teachers seem to have thought so....
Easter revolution: "God has put something very right"
Resurrection has always been a novel, revolutionary doctrine,” N. T. Wright reminds us. His article on the resurrection (p....
Sorrows of war: A contrast to the present elation
Though Augustine is widely known—and frequently reproached—for developing the concept of a “just war,” he believed war is essentially an occasion for remorse....
Holding steady: The nonanxious pastor
When war or national crisis sets our hearts churning, people normally accustomed to taking their cues from the daily news suddenly discover that Pentagon briefings, op-ed pieces and Oval Office upd...
Sick system: Health care: Radical surgery needed
In his State of the Union speech, President Bush set a goal of achieving high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans....
War motives: Gulf War: The Sequel
Anti-Semitism is a very real and toxic plague in history and in modern life. The suffering of the Jews is a well-known and often-told story that must never be forgotten....
Glittering vices: A parlor game
The seven deadly sins got their name not from the Bible but from ancients of the church....
Above and beyond: Mark 16:1-8
Is this any way to run a resurrection? Is this enough to persuade, to stir new life in the followers of Jesus?
Triumphal entry? (Mark 11:1-11)
The term better fits Matthew than Mark, and neither Gospel justifies the church’s celebration of Palm Sunday as though it were an Easter before Easter.
Spiritual things: Gratitude is where the spiritual life begins
Somehow I managed to get a theological education and practice several decades of parish ministry without encountering the idea of spirituality....