Latest Articles
A defeat, not a debacle: The religious right and the 1998 election
On the morning after the November elections, pundits announced the death of the Religious Right as a political force....
The World Council at 50: Seeking new terms of engagement
We intend to stay together." Delegates to the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches reaffirmed that commitment in a ceremony on December 13 in Harare, Zimbabwe, repeating a declaration m...
On African soil
For its 50th-anniversary assembly, the World Council of Churches considered returning to Amsterdam, the site of its founding. But in the end the WCC decided to look to the future, not the past....
The Universal Declaration at 50: Changing the world?
December 10 marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nation's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights....
Shaping character
A seminary student and I were walking around the lake on a beautiful evening. We had begun the walk in part for exercise, and in part because he wanted to talk about his vocation....
History of a hybrid
In about a year, after I finish directing the Public Religion Project, I plan to do some research on a way of writing about American religious history....
Rare sightings: Matthew 3:13-17
The water flows cleanly here, just a few miles from the source of the Hudson River, deep in the Adirondack Mountains....
On God and Dogs, by Stephen H. Webb
By Stephen H. Webb, On God and Dogs: A Christian Theology of Compassion. (Oxford University, 222 pp.)...
Living the incarnation
Some Christian theologians these days are involved in an important discussion about the limits of our knowledge and speech about God....
Coming together, coming apart: Embattled Baptists in Texas
As baptist historian Walter Shurden once noted, Southern Baptists are "not a silent people." Their battles are often very intense and very public....
Taking God to court
In Joseph and His Brothers, Thomas Mann tells of an exchange between Jacob, who has just seen what he believes is proof of his son's death, and his servant Eliezer. The passage reminds me ...
Repent and expect
Tis the season for columnists to write their annual grumpy columns about how the season is misused. Here's my contribution....
Go out in joy
Oh, the majesty and magnificence of God's presence! Oh, the power and splendor of his sanctuary! . . ....
All on the family
By Leo G. Perdue, Joseph Blenkinsopp, John J. Collins and Carol Meyers, Families in Ancient Israel. (Westminster/John Knox, 285 pp.)...
Come on down
A bunch of religious academics, 87 to be exact, have been fussing with some of us about being too easy on Bill Clinton....
Forgiven and accountable
While millions of dollars in aid pour into Nicaragua and Honduras in response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch, millions of dollars are also pouring out--to service debts to foreign cre...
Something to declare: Checkpoint for Christian unity
Over a weekend in November, veterans of the ecumenical movement gathered in Indianapolis to celebrate the career of the dean of North American ecumenists, Paul A....
Church as parish: The East Harlem Protestant Parish
Fifty years ago, some graduates of Union Theological Seminary in New York, steeped in postwar ecumenism and idealism, decided to do something about the suburban migration of Protestant laity and th...
Can churches save the city? A look at resources: A look at resources
Can churches Save America's cities?...