Latest Articles
Tobacco’s victory: Behind the settlement
This past November the tobacco industry agreed to give $208 billion to the states over the next 25 years....
Living in public housing
We were walking up to our third-floor apartment when an elderly neighbor opened her door. "I heard you come in last night," she said....
Proclaiming the Lord’s death
High view of the ministry of the Word and pronounced free church sensibilities notwithstanding, I finally caved in. I sought refuge from bad preaching in the celebration of the Eucharist....
It adds up
Decades ago I heard someone from IBM project computer size. In the 1950s, he said, it took a whole building to house one that punched holes in cards....
Acknowledgment (John 9:1-41)
"You can't be born again," I said, "you're a Lutheran. You are the chairman of the board of trustees."
A new sexual revolution
By Wendy Shalit, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue. (Free Press, 291 pp.)...
Letting scripture work
By John P. Burgess, Why Scripture Matters. (Westminster John Knox, 186 pp.)...
Sweet Charity, by Janet Poppendieck
By Janet Poppendieck, Sweet Charity: Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement. (Viking, 354 pp.)...
Life on the playground
Across the street from the Christian Century's offices there used to be a wholesale outlet that sold barber supplies....
Death-penalty doubts
The death penalty has been brought before our consciences again by three recent events. The first was Pope John Paul II's visit to St....
Expectant giving: Handouts are wrong (usually)
A few months ago, I knowingly harmed an indigent woman named Jacqueline. She was standing at the end of the exit ramp, holding up the predictable sign: "Homeless....
Surfeit of significance
One of my worst fears recently materialized in-of all places-the post office. It was lunch hour on a busy day....
Strangers in the night: John 4:5-42
Only one who loves you knows your deepest desires.
China's insular church
By Richard Madsen, China's Catholics: Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society. (University of California Press, 183 pp.)...
American Evangelicalism, by Christian Smith, with Michael Emerson, Sally Gallagher, Paul Kennedy and David Sikkink
By Christian Smith, with Michael Emerson, Sally Gallagher, Paul Kennedy and David Sikkink, American Evangelicalism....
Points of clarification
Soon, perhaps in a matter of days, the impeachment trial of President Clinton will be over. Clinton will, presumably, remain in office after receiving some kind of censure....
What happened to the aid? Logistics of hurricane relief: Logistics of hurricane relief
Tegucigalpa, Honduras...
Getting ready: The Y2K thing
It's time to begin paying attention to this Y2K thing. And not just because it recently made the cover of Time....