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Qassem Soleimani, a new kind of Iranian national hero
(The Christian Science Monitor) For years Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, worked from the shadows, conduct...
March 6, Fourth Sunday in Lent: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
It has become almost a cliché for preachers to focus on the older brother of the Prodigal Son. Too often, not even our churches let us be the fallen brother who desperately wants to come home.
Battling wills
In Jessica Jones, the superhero villain's control over people is chilling because we recognize it. It plays out in ordinary abusive relationships.
Why can't we be friends?
A friend from seminary visited a couple of weeks ago. Her father-in-law was a pastor in the South, and she had been on a church staff for years before she became a pastor. She talked about how the male pastors of former generations would say that they were going to make visits, and they would spend the afternoon at the golf course.
Watching the winter sky
I used to like snow, but I don't any more. At least that's what I keep telling myself.
While growing up, I loved it.
When government fails
The scale of government means its failures can be big ones. But so can its successes.
Ten questions to ask about your own picture of Jesus
I taught a course last month on “Jesus and the Movies” at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California....
Episode 15: Kaji Douša
Matt talks to the senior minister of The Table UCC in La Mesa about being a black woman in a predominantly white congregation, owning guns and preaching against them, and the influence of standup comedy.
Faith makes us human
We wish something would prove beyond doubt that Someone obliged us large-brained, bipedal primates with a breath of consciousness.
Letting suffering in: How a colleague's death changed my teaching
I knew Jannie Swart's witness would have a lasting impact on our seminary. I didn't anticipate how it would challenge me in the classroom.
Listening with my heart
This Sunday's passage from Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome seems to be an example of Year C's theological focus on those who are living in a state of alienation from Jesus Christ and the church. Yet when I think about rebuilding the bridges of love, trust, and belonging in contemporary Christian community, Paul isn't the first person who comes to mind.
Lax Lent
When, in my adult life, I first heard church folks start talking about “taking on” something for Lent rather than “giving up” something, I thought I would lose it.
I don’t remember observing Ash Wednesday until high school or giving up something for Lent until college.
The Century invites reader submissions
The Century invites readers to submit first-person narratives (under 1,000 words) on the topics feast and power.
Charleston shooting survivor Jennifer Pinckney continues justice work
c. 2016 Religion News Service...
Henry VIII's royal chapel hosts Catholic vespers for first time in 450 years
For the first time in 450 years, a citadel of Protestant worship in England—the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace in Canterbury—echoed to the sound of Roman Catholic prayers and music....
Doctor Johnson’s failures
Every New Year's, every Easter, every anniversary of his wife's death, Samuel Johnson took stock and prayed for the grace to try again.