Latest Articles
Repairing the redlined body of Christ
My church wanted to participate in our city’s reparations efforts. We began in our archives.
Episode 37: Gender studies scholar Susan Shaw, coauthor of Surviving God
A conversation with Gender studies scholar Susan Shaw about sexual abuse, images of God, joy, and more
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What is forgiveness?
Myisha Cherry and Matthew Ichihashi Potts each challenge a new American mythology.
February 25, Lent 2B (Mark 8:31–38)
What a roller coaster for the disciples: They are following the Messiah! And doing so will cost them everything.
Faith, hope, love, and AI
Our different responses to artificial intelligence point to different stories—and different Christian virtues.
Holy attachments
During the pandemic, I went six months without touching another human being. I felt starved.
Ten ways Christians can criticize Israel that aren’t antisemitic
Since October 7, many well-intentioned statements have undercut progressive Christians’ moral high ground by invoking antisemitic tropes. It’s an avoidable problem.
In Gaza, water is life
Fresh water was scarce even before the war. Now the situation is dire.
School dress codes that do harm
One Kansas school board has recognized the unintended consequences and changed course.
There’s Something about Mary Magdalene, with Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diana Butler Bass (S3:E1)
“What if the text was changed to suppress Mary Magdalene as not only the first witness of Jesus in John 20, but as the Christological confessor, which would make her a central character in the Gospel of John? Not one of several women, but a central character.”
We are all going to die
During my first several hours administering ashes as a hospital chaplain, I kept cringing.
A glimpse of the world beyond
In his new novella, Jon Fosse allows a luminous narrative to unfold at a dreamlike pace.
Ashes together (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)
Praying in community is often more powerful than praying “in secret.”
February 18, Lent 1B (Mark 1:9–15)
Does Jesus hide from the wild beasts? Hurl rocks at them? Mark doesn’t say.
Ignorant of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
Sometimes it seems like the believers are the ones for whom the gospel is veiled.
The bones in God’s garden
Will my daffodil bulbs overcome their trauma and rise up despite the odds? Will we?
The case that revolutionized libel law
Samantha Barbas’s history of New York Times v. Sullivan shows how easy it was to weaponize the law against southern civil rights leaders.
February 14, Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21)
How did my friend feel making a cross on my forehead, not knowing how long I’d be alive?