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Persecution of Christians reached historic levels in 2014. Will 2015 be worse?
c. 2015 Religion News Service
(RNS) More Christians worldwide live in fear for their lives than at any time in the modern era....
Muslims on edge after Paris terrorist attack on satirical magazine
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
Conservative Jews question rules on interfaith weddings, dating non-Jews
In recent weeks, groups within Conservative Judaism—the second-largest movement of American Jews—debated their own rules discouraging interfaith dating and marriage....
Between two worlds: Writer Claire Hajaj
“Two things about my own life became clear: I really did understand both sides, and I didn’t understand them at all.”
Permission not to take notes
The competing voices in my head each sound reasonable. That’s the problem.
One voice is the keep-track-of-it voice. The one who wants to capture the precise moment with a picture or by writing down that perfectly turned phrase.
The gap between moral norms and public policy
Not all of Francis's critics sound like a McCarthyite version of Foghorn Leghorn. But this refrain is common: the pope is beyond his competence in matters of science and public policy, at least where the environment is concerned.
Faith Speaking Understanding, by Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Kevin Vanhoozer demonstrates that Christian thought is a more engaging, embodied affair than much that passes for thinking these days.
Archaeologists uncover Herod’s palace
c. 2015 Religion News Service
JERUSALEM (RNS) The site where Jesus may have been tried, prior to his crucifixion, is now open to the public for the very first time....
Controversial Episcopal seminary dean Katherine Hancock Ragsdale to step down
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
United Methodists settle complaint against bishop over same-sex wedding
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
A long obedience: On marriage and other covenants
There are many people with whom I have not had an affair. Billions. There is also one man in particular.
Hope for hurting bodies: Making sense of chronic pain
The story goes that God got a body. I’ve often pondered the relationship between incarnation and pain.
On being yoked
Brian and I are at the Farmer’s Market. I walk up to the vendors, and the wife says, “Oh! You must be Pastor Brian’s wife.”
I shake her hand and say, “Yes, I am Brian’s wife. My name is Carol Howard Merritt.” As she introduces me to her husband, I wonder if I should I have added the “Reverend” to my name. I don’t usually use the prefix, but should I have notified them that I’m a pastor too?
George Whitefield’s troubled relationship to race and slavery
2014 demonstrated that, whatever the significance of Barack Obama’s two terms as our first African American president, we have hardly moved beyond national struggles over race and class. Failures to indict white policemen accused of the unjust killings of black men precipitated protests and online shouting matches about racial inequality, or just how to talk about race. Christians participated in (hopefully) profitable discussions such as the December 16, 2014 “A Time to Speak” event, hosted by Pastor Bryan Lorritts of Fellowship Memphis, at the Lorraine Motel and National Civil Rights Museum.
December 16 was also the 300th birthday of George Whitefield, the most important evangelist of the Great Awakening of the 18th century.
The Church of the Reluctant Evangelists
Visitors to worship at the congregation I serve, Old South, will generally find a warm and friendly group. Most Old South folk are eager to greet new people, to invite them to coffee, and to talk to them about the church. There are a few people in the congregation who are attentive to newcomers during worship as well, making sure they have a bulletin, know which hymnal is which, and to deliver children’s materials to any kids. It’s nice to see.
If you manage to get into the building, you’ll find a nice welcome.
Mercy, by Walter Kasper
Walter Kasper contends that mercy is one of those words that we use without really grasping its profundity.
As anti-Islam marches grow in Germany, counter-protests swell also
(The Christian Science Monitor) The Cologne Cathedral is the most visited landmark in Germany....
Jordan welcomes throngs of tourists at site where believers say Jesus was baptized
c. 2015 Religion News Service...
Sunday, January 18, 2015: 1 Samuel 3:1-20
I used to think that the end of Samuel’s story was when he learns to listen to God. I wasn’t curious at all about what God has to say.