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Revive us again
The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism by Robert William Fogel...
The Critical Edition of Q, edited by James M. Robinson, Paul Hoffmann and John S. Kloppenborg and Excavating Q, by John S. Kloppenborg Verbin
Most New Testament scholars believe that besides following the Gospel of Mark's narrative of Jesus's ministry and passion, the authors of Matthew and Luke independently drew from a common ...
Hearing Things, by Leigh Eric Schmidt
Whatever happened to the talkative God of the Bible?" asks Barbara Brown Taylor....
It pays to play: Why is there affirmative action for athletes?
How do you get admitted to one of those small, highly selective liberal arts colleges? Of course, you need excellent grades in high school and an impressive SAT score....
Enhancing humanity? Manipulating the genetic code: manipulating the genetic code
When two groups of scientists announced in mid-February that they had finished mapping the human genome, scientists, politicians and journalists paid rapt attention....
Of anchorites and beadsmen: Faith at work
Sometime in the 14th century an English woman we know as Julian came to the Church of St. Julian and St....
Biker faith: Pentecostals on motorcycles
Riders for God: The Story of a Christian Motorcycle Gang by Rich Remsberg...
Some kind of tomorrow
How can hope be sustained when traumatic memories of conflict or oppression haunt a person or group? This question has become central in a course I am teaching with an African-American colleague....
Jesus, disqualified
"There’s a long line of people who on the basis of their position on life couldn’t be attorney general. We could start with Jesus Christ himself.” So said Senator Robert C....
Bad example
Pundits and politicians used to say they were embarrassed to have to tell their children that Bill Clinton didn’t tell the truth about his escapades....
Breaking and entering: Sunday, March 18 (Luke 13:1-9)
In the little Georgia country church of my childhood, there was a story the older folks loved to tell again and again, laughing over it and savoring it and embellishing it....
A tangled tale of race
One Drop of Blood: The American Misadventure of Race by Scott L. Malcomson...
Seeker Churches, by Kimon Howland Sargeant
Just about everyone by now has heard of seeker churches, and many Americans have visited or joined them....
Revelation, the Religions, and Violence, by Leo D. Lefebure
Why are so many people simultaneously attracted to and repulsed by religion? Why are religions as adept at setting us at each other's throats as they are at linking us with the divine?...
Good manners
I once told a story from the pulpit about road rage that evoked as much response as anything I have ever said....
Diversity training: How community comes about
It’s a painful irony: congregations in mainline churches—which have long made racial reconciliation one of their highest priorities—are no more racially integrated than other chur...
Hues in the pews: Racially mixed churches an elusive goal
When Rodney Woo became pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church in Houston in 1992, the all-white congregation averaged 200 worshipers....
Media dominance: Who controls the web?
In the early 16th century, Martin Luther, assisted by enterprising printers unhandicapped by copyright laws, swamped the market with five pamphlets for every one put out by his Catholic opponents....
Mission in Mexico: An evangelical surge
The woman sitting next to me on a five-hour bus ride from Puebla to Oaxaca, Mexico, opened her Bible to the “Segunda Epístola de San Pedro Apóstol”—2 Peter....