Latest Articles
Mindful suffering: Buddhists practice forgiveness
This is,” Chi Nguyen said, raising one hand and then the other, “because that is.” The retired surgeon, a native of Vietnam who lives in Boston, was explaining how Buddhism helped...
Holy silence
In late June, weary of another long year behind a desk, I headed toward Ring Lake Ranch, an ecumenical retreat and study center in northwest Wyoming....
360-degree prayers
When the new war has become an old war, and a new world has emerged from it, what will the religious landscape look like?...
Roots of rancor: Examining Islamic militancy
Commentary since September 11 has produced a cognitive dissonance among Americans about Islam, the world’s second largest religious tradition....
Overcoming fear
There are no atheists in bio-hazard suits. Perhaps that sentiment has never been strictly true, even when we were still talking about foxholes....
Faith on idle: Sunday, November 18. 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13.
“For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work....
Nominalism
Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Psalm 19:12 KJV....
Sustenance from Jeremiah
This preacher was grateful for the lectionary during September. I often argue with the choices of texts for particular Sundays....
Birmingham tragedies
Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama--The Climatic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution. By Diane McWhorter. Simon & Schuster, 706 pp., $35.00....
Christian Ethics, by Robin W. Lovin
Introductory courses and treatises can test even accomplished teachers and writers. It is not easy to simplify without compromising, to be comprehensive without exceeding one's limits....
The Catholic Church, by Hans Küng. Translated by John Bowden.
A growing number of works by Catholic authors such as Garry Wills, Eugene Kennedy and Donald Cozzens, as well as books by numerous feminist writers, call for greater honesty regarding the problems ...
New Creation, by Frank C. Senn
Anyone who uses the word "worldview" in a book title had better be prepared to deliver. Frank C....
Befriending Life, edited by Beth Porter, with Susan Brown and Philip Coulter
His primary expectation was that you keep your heart open to life," writes Fred Bratman of his friend Henri Nouwen....
Apocalypse now? Threats to survival: Threats to survival
For those trapped in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon, that fiery hell must have seemed apocalyptic....
Visions of sacrifice: The terrorists' point of view
It’s remarkable that the media and government found the five-page letter from Mohamed Atta to his fellow hijackers remarkable....
A different kind of funeral: Requiem for a gangbanger
When George called to ask for help with his grandson’s funeral, I didn’t hesitate. I’d do anything for the man....
Spiritual counsel: An art in transition
In 1993 John Patton coined the phrase “paradigm shift” to describe a dramatic turn in the practice of pastoral care....
Light in darkness
On September 11, I was scheduled to lecture on Simone Weil’s classic essay, “The Love of God and Affliction.” I never made it to class—it was canceled due to the devastating, horrifying news of the...
Festival films
Shrapnel in Peace opens with a close-up of a woman in traditional Muslim attire who is chopping into hard ground with a small shovel....
Seismic changes
Those who occupy pulpits, be they the bully pulpits of the president or other nationally prominent people or the local yet influential pulpits of pastors, have special responsibilities for discerni...