Latest Articles
Hooked: Or called
This issue contains some personal musings and reflections on how and when theological education happens—or perhaps doesn’t happen....
Being accountable: Enron, Arthur Andersen
An accountant—so goes the joke—is someone who solves financial problems you didn’t know you had in a way you don’t understand....
Executing justice: Second thoughts on the death penalty
In the death chamber at San Quentin just after midnight on January 28, a confessed killer was executed by lethal injection....
Classroom encounters: The voices behind the text
In the safe, posh setting of the seminary, the Bible can seem straightforward enough....
Classroom encounters: Interreligious impact
Many of the most moving experiences I have had with students in class have involved encounters with members of other religious traditions....
Classroom encounters: Teaching as if it really matters
The encounter that most decisively shaped my teaching occurred during my very first year in the classroom....
Classroom encounters: Growing into the wisdom of God
Our parents are our first and most important teachers, but they cannot teach us everything. Sometimes they are not equipped to teach us some things we need....
The impossible God: An interview with David Tracy
With books like Blessed Rage for Order (1975) and The Analogical Imagination (1981), David Tracy became widely recognized as an important revisionist theologian—one who r...
Redeeming the past? Overcoming: Overcoming
Lawrence Langer explains in Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory that written accounts of life in the Nazi concentration camps often seek to integrate the Holocaust experience i...
Bishoping: Clerical title inflation
In a recent story in the Atlanta Constitution John Blake reports on what we might call “grade inflation” among pastors....
Sheep on the run: Psalm 23
The 23rd Psalm has led us in the paths of comfort all the days of our lives. But sometimes we have trouble hearing the things that are closest to us. Psalm 23 was a cherished hymn for the Hebrews....
Unlikely messenger: John 4:5-42
This is not a metaphorical desert. Left alone here at high noon, Jesus could die without water.
Classroom encounters: Lecture interrupted
When I first started teaching, the dean thought it would be a good idea for me to warm up to the vocation (after five years in the pastorate) by teaching summer school....
What students crave
College is a crucible in which opinions are formed, challenged and reformed; beliefs are redefined or perhaps defined for the first time, and attitudes become ...
In community
Have you ever felt a bit empty, a bit unsatisfied, after hearing politicians (even those you support) explain their vision of a good society?...
Troubled mind
With A Beautiful Mind, director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Cocoon) and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (Batman and Robin, A Time to Kill) have produced a polished and carefully c...
Quick takes
Gosford Park: One could easily mistake director Robert Altman for a misanthrope; his dark humor (famously displayed in M*A*S*H* and The Player) borders on meanness, while...
Flag-waving
For months the American flag has been showing up on cars, porches, football helmets and basketball uniforms....
The time is ripe
In the small lobby of the offices of the Christian Century hang two large mounted posters....