Latest Articles
Believing in economics
Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond.By Robert H. Nelson. Pennsylvania State University Press, 378 pp., $35.00....
Venice, by Garry Wills
To understand a deeply religious culture, one must study how its theological assumptions are at play in all its aspects--its art, music literature, politics and economics--to say nothing of its sel...
How Democratic Is the American Constitution? by Robert A. Dahl
We need to "change . . . the way we think about" the American Constitution, says Robert Dahl....
Aging Well, by George E. Vaillant
Reading this book will not grant us an escape from eventual death or the inevitable losses of old age. But it can help us to learn from those who have aged well....
Power for good: The Millennium Challenge
The United States “has too much power for anyone’s good, including its own.” So argues Timothy Garton Ash, who observes that since the demise of the Soviet Union there is no countervailing force on...
Grave dreams: The work of Wislawa Szymborska
Wislawa Szymborska, a Nobel Prize winner, makes poetry out of unusual materials: lists of instructions, clothes items, apologies or questions. Her tone can be wry or playful or chilling....
Career ministry: Two cheers for professional clergy
"Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”...
Tough love for sexual abusers
Outrage, accountability, forgiveness, potential reconciliation
Blind eye: The assault on Jenin
Secretary of State Colin Powell’s slow journey to Jerusalem gave Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon an extra week to continue his military assault on the Palestinian West Bank....
Happy pastors: What is happening to Protestant clergy?
Something has gone terribly wrong with Protestant clergy. The majority of them say that they are “happy, content,” as a recent Christian Century news headline proclaims (March 27-April 2)....
Back to the burning bush: Leadership 101
Leadership is all the rage at universities these days. There are courses in microleadership and macroleadership, leadership skills and leadership techniques....
Thirst quencher: John 7:37-39; Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
In the original Christian Pentecost are seeds of a universalist impulse, a catholic principle.
Long division: Acts 1:6-14; John 17:1-11
The unity of Christ's followers is not incidental to our salvation.
Living the questions: The converging worlds of Rowan Williams
Two years ago, at the relatively young age of 49, Rowan Williams became archbishop of the Church in Wales, one of the provinces of the Anglican Communion....
A lost virtue
Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue. Paul Woodruff. Oxford University Press, 248 pp., $19.95....
Earth Habitat, edited by Dieter Hessel and Larry Rasmussen
Topical collections of essays typically range from the barely tolerable to the merely acceptable. This is an alluring exception....
The priestly life: Crisis and opportunity in the Catholic Church
The scandal of sexual abuse among priests and its institutional cover-up presents the Catholic Church with a staggering crisis....
Megachurch, mini-congregation: Pastoral care in the large congregation
This issue features a topic in which I have a personal interest—the megachurch (see Wanted: Megapastors), though I deplore the term a...
Wanted: Megapastors: Can successors find success?
With his folksy, conversational style, Pastor Frank Harrington turned Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta into a megachurch over three decades....