Latest Articles
The subway incident
A couple of weeks ago I rode the subway to the Atlanta airport. It is not a proper subway, since much of the track lies above ground....
Partisan polemics
By Charlotte Allen, The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus. (Free Press, 383 pp.)...
Millennial musings
When there were only 474 days left until the new millennium--or 840, depending on when you think the 21st century starts--the Religion Newswriters Association asked people to comment on how the pre...
Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo, by David Toole
By David Toole, Waiting for Godot in Sarajevo: Theological Reflections on Nihilism, Tragedy, and Apocalypse. (Westview, 352 pp.)...
The Community of the Future, edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Richard Beckhard and Richard F. Schubert
Edited by Frances Hesselbein, Marshall Goldsmith, Richard Beckhard and Richard F. Schubert, The Community of the Future. (Jossey-Bass, 285 pp.)...
Films of challenge and hope
The text for this first-ever column in its new location is taken from the first chapter of John Irving's novel A Prayer for Owen Meany: "I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice-...
Multiculturally challenged
There's much talk in the churches these days about "multicultural" sensitivity, and Western Christians often worry about participating in Western "cultural imperialism." But such rhetoric can appea...
Spiritual practice: Piety in America
To focus on spiritual practice means emphasizing the importance of making a deliberate attempt to relate to the sacred....
Against privatization: The genius of Social Security
Frances Perkins knew how difficult life could be....
Revisiting the church in socialism
By Gregory Baum, The Church for Others: Protestant Theology in Communist East Germany. (Eerdmans, 173 pp.)...
How the fundamentalists learned to thrive
By Joel A. Carpenter, Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. (Oxford University Press, 335 pp.)...
My first convert
I grew up in a Christian home with good parents. I was told the story of Jesus and instructed in the right way to live. I was loved and treated well....
The issue market
Many people have asked me lately why homosexuality has replaced abortion as the hot issue. Stumped, I did some research and developed numerous hypotheses....
Muddling through: 2 Kings 5:1-14
When I became a seminary administrator, a colleague at another school gave me this advice: "People always act from self-interest....
Chasing terrorists: Misguided missiles
According to one White House spin doctor, President Clinton didn't want to appear too contrite in his Monica speech because he knew he would soon be back on center stage as commander in chief, defe...
Struggling with theodicy: Kenyan reactions to the Bombing
The bomb exploded on a busy Friday morning in downtown Nairobi, tearing through buildings, bodies, lives and the national consciousness....
Fidelity makes you happy
What Bill Clinton and others like him don't understand is that sexual escapades always bring more trouble than they are worth. It is fidelity that makes you happy," my friend said....
Soul music
Researchers say Mozart has amazing effect on rats," headlined the Chicago Tribune on August 11. "Music's boost to humans also occurs in rodents," read the subhead. I was skeptical....