Latest Articles
Churches as government partners: Navigating 'Charitable Choice'
In 1998 Sue Hill, an administrator with the Department of Human Services in Peoria, Illinois, was trying to help find jobs for several adults whose families were on welfare....
A code of conduct
Developed in light of “Charitable Choice,” the following guidelines reflect an effort by some religious groups to regulate their dealings with government funding agencies....
Sheep and shepherds: Mark 6:30-34,53-56:Sixth Sunday Pentecost16th Sunday Ordinary Time
These days churches are tempted to mimic corporations, and pastors try to become CEOs....
Bread and miracles: John 6:1-21
Do you believe God will provide what you need to do the ministry God wants done?
Buddhism in America, by Richard Hughes Seager
Buddhism has entered North America in ways that are transforming both the Buddhist tradition and North American culture. Images of Buddhism have inundated advertising, sports, movies and politics....
Jackson closes a chapter
It was the winter of 1967, and Jesse Jackson was completing his master’s degree at Chicago Theological Seminary....
Body shop: The human tissue industry
Deciding to donate one’s organs and tissues for transplant after death is as morally mainstream an action as one can think of these days....
What happened to Allan Boesak? Corruption in South Africa: corruption in south africa
When Allan Boesak entered Pollsmoor prison last month, even some of the prison guards demonstrated on his behalf....
Exegeting Ohio’s motto: A scriptural ruling
It looks like Ohio will have to celebrate its bicentennial in 2003 without its longtime motto “With God All Things Are Possible.” A federal court ruled in April that the motto is tantamount to a st...
Pilgrim in the Southwest: Sacred things in the desert
When I moved back to the Southwest, the first thing I noticed was color. Green is not a dominant color in New Mexico. The landscape is brown and red and sometimes golden at sunset, but not green....
Militants for peace
It was not what was predicted by mainstream sociologists who followed in the footsteps of Karl Marx, Max Weber and Émile Durkheim, but it has happened....
Nobody I know
For my sister Mildred’s 50th wedding anniversary, our clan is gathering in Fort Wayne this summer....
Animals and the love of God: Learning from Genesis
Many of us feel a little silly if we react strongly to the death of a pet or the plight of an animal. “Well, it was just a cat,” we say, embarrassed by our grief....
Miracle worker: Mark 6:1-6
After the remarkable healing of a woman who had suffered for 12 years from hemorrhages and after the raising of the dead child of Jairus, Jesus goes home to Nazareth accompanied by his disciples....
Trials of Intimacy, by Richard Wightman Fox
Richard Fox's Trials of Intimacy deals with the second-most famous sex scandal in American history....
Building Effective Boards for Religious Organizations, edited by Thomas P. Holland and David C. Hester
If you are a member of one of the thousands of congregations or religious nonprofits that are in the middle of "strategic planning" or "visioning" or "long-term planning," this book is for you....