Latest Articles
Impatient for redemption (Isaiah 35:1-10)
Listening to "What's Going On" provides some solace—and some discouragement.
A look at faith in film over the last decade
At a time of rapid secularization, filmmakers seem intrigued—if sometimes also repelled—by religion.
The Century invites reader submissions
The Century invites readers to submit first-person narratives on the topics dawn and movement.
The line between human and nonhuman
Alice Hoffman’s Holocaust novel collapses the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
Four views of Paul’s letter to the Romans
In Preaching Romans, a range of scholars present their perspectives in complementary ways.
The SAT is unfair. My son is studying for it anyway.
It’s hard to quit the college admissions game.
December 29, Christmas 1A (Matthew 2:13–23)
Matthew connects Jesus to the overarching narrative of the Jewish people—as well as to the smaller story of Matthew’s immediate community.
Episode 70: The Irishman
Matt and Adam discuss aging, gangsters, repentance, and Martin Scorcese's The Irishman
New life in old space at St. Stephen’s, Philadelphia
I knew Sunday worship wasn’t viable. But what about weekdays?
Two different visions (Matthew 3:1-12; Romans 15:4-13; Isaiah 11:1-10)
I'm always amused when folk are keen enough to notice the worship whiplash to which the tradition so often subjects them.
How people deal with pointless suffering
Scott Samuelson considers seven responses to the age-old mystery.
Louise Aronson calls for a health-care system that treats elders better
The medical community takes middle-age adulthood as the norm. What if it didn’t?
What does a fair trade logo actually mean?
Churches that support the movement should confront the gap between its vision and its accomplishments.
David Bentley Hart’s polemic against the alleged doctrine of eternal hell
Hart thunders like Amos against cruel, incoherent religion.
December 24 and 25, Nativity (Isaiah 9:2–7; Luke 2:1–20)
Preachers who value their pulpit would be wise to avoid Isaiah 9 this Christmas Eve.
A wealth tax would be good for democracy
The American dream is not just about accumulating private wealth.
Churches seek to put affordable housing in ‘God’s backyard’
Faith congregations across California are responding to the state’s housing crisis by sharing their parking lots with people living in their cars, providing mobile showers for the homeless, and joi...
With exhibit on Abraham, Episcopal cathedral in Boston organizes interfaith conversation
The day after the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue last October, more than a thousand people gathered on the Boston Common to mourn and pray....
New study finds churches are growing and making money
In one of its first published reports, the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices counters a popular story line—that congre...