Latest Articles
Yanking out the tablecloth (Advent 1B; Mark 13:24-37)
Advent amid the rubble of 2020
I was a scribe for the Chicago Illuminated Scripture Project
What would possess me to copy a chapter of the Bible by hand?
Three ways to create sacred moments at home this Advent
In chaotic times, focus on routine, ritual, and simplicity.
Advent is a season of sighs, especially this year
We don’t pine for a second coming that will bring the world to an end. We pray for the indwelling of Christ that will enable the world to continue.
The Old Testament, the Tanakh, and the Hebrew Bible
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler show how multiple traditions arise when different people read the same text.
December 20, Advent 4B (Luke 1:26–38)
We are still asking Mary's question: How will this be?
Ted Lasso is the soccer coach we all need
What if kindness, honesty, and compassion were valued more than winning?
Billy Graham and Barack Obama each offered a pastoral voice in a time of tragedy
We need someone to speak to our moment, too.
A letter to the congregation (Reign of Christ A; Ephesians 1:15-23)
Ephesians could be a template for a sermon in the style of a pastoral letter.
Journeying with Father Dan and a coyote along the via negativa
Daniel Hornsby’s debut novel has a wonderful road-trippy feeling.
What we lost when the funeral home replaced the home funeral
Death rituals used to happen in our houses. What if we brought them back?
George H. W. Bush’s letter to Bill Clinton was a model of respect and solidarity
What will Donald Trump leave for Joe Biden?
Grieving my daughter’s suicide in a time of wider grief
My years of experience as an undertaker didn’t make it easier.
When religion thrived in New York
Jon Butler’s dazzling study of faith and practice in a 20th-century metropolis
My dad died from COVID-19. My grief is a lonely one.
I’m the only person he loved the way he loved me.
How do we grieve the hundreds of thousands of people the COVID-19 pandemic has killed?
We posed this question to five writers.
Religious diversity in the election
On November 3, the United States elected its first Catholic president in 60 years, but that wasn’t the only important religion angle of the 2020 election....
A more conservative court hears same-sex foster parent case
On November 4, the Supreme Court seemed likely to side with a Catholic social services agency in a dispute with the city of Philadelphia over the agency’s refusal to work with same-sex couples as f...
Church coalitions in Deep South partner on racial reconciliation
Leaders of multiracial church coalitions in three southern cities have confessed to being too “comfortable” and have committed anew to “work for justice to right past wrongs” and seek racial unity....