Latest Articles
Divine summons: Working in the horizon of God’s call
I have learned over the years that students, wearily carrying out a writing assignment, often have recourse to the dictionary....
Marriage today: Sacramental or utilitarian?
Marriage After Modernity: Christian Marriage in Postmodern Times, by Adrian Thatcher...
Forming a family: Are all kinds of families equally good?
More Lasting Unions: Christianity, the Family, and Society, by Stephen G. PostChristianity and the Making of the Modern Family, by Rosemary Radford Ruether...
The children’s view: The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce.By Judith S. Wallerstein, Julia M. Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee. Hyperion, 316 pp., $24.95.
The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce, by Judith S. Wallerstein, Julia M. Lewis and Sandra Blakeslee ...
Sold on incarnation
I am an unwilling explorer of cyberspace. For years I managed not to go there....
Crooked timber
As we collect ever more evidence about times past and places afar, we find that there seem to have been no times or places when or where environmental edens existed (at least not since the original...
Divorce culture: A congregational challenge
It’s not easy for churches to address what sociologist Barbara Dafoe Whitehead has termed the “divorce culture.” For one thing, the changes in laws and attitudes that have made divorce easier to ob...
Virtual virtuosity: Sunday, November 12Mark 12:38-44
My favorite Kierkegaardian parable is called “The Man Who Walked Backwards.” The Danish philosopher was particularly hard on religious professionals, and claimed that inconsistent behaviors most of...
Faith-based schools
The Ambiguous Embrace: Government and Faith-Based Schools and Social Agencies, by Charles Leslie Glenn...
Holy Day, Holiday, by Alexis McCrossen
A large majority of Americans consider Sunday the most enjoyable day of the week, according to a 1998 Gallup poll. Few Century readers would wish for a different answer....
Reparations: Calculating the incalculable
When Washington Post writer Colbert King invited readers to respond to the idea of paying reparations to the descendants of African-American slaves, he got a mailbox full of opinions....
From text to gospel: Beyond Bibleland
Those of us who preach or teach preaching are always looking for the right words to convey biblical truth. How do we do it?...
Payback? Racism, reparations and accountability: Racism, reparations and accountability
In 1969, I dropped out of college, moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and worked for a community action program and then for a welfare rights organization....
Ancient Christian magic
A few months ago I had a visit from the college-age daughter of a friend of mine. The young woman, an exceptionally gifted linguist, had developed an interest in religion and philosophy....
Deadly silence
As the first national election of the 21st century draws to a close, neither of the two major presidential candidates has given any attention to a shameful part of our foreign policy, one which his...
Radical, orthodox: John Milbank's recovery of theology
Theology and Social Theory: Beyond Secular Reason, by John MilbankThe World Made Strange: Theology, Language, Culture, by John Milbank...
Extra credit: Sunday, November 5 (Mark 12:28-34)
By the time we reach the 12th chapter of Mark, Jesus finds himself in the middle of a kind of theological cross-examination free-for-all....
Creative conflict
Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life, by Penny Edgell Becker...
Risks of Faith, by James H. Cone and Black Faith and Public Talk, edited by Dwight N. Hopkins
Black theology as an intellectual discipline and as systematic discourse is virtually synonymous with the name and academic career of James H. Cone. Currently the Charles A....