Latest Articles
The Urban Pulpit, by Matthew Bowman
Matthew Bowman invites readers to rediscover the once-powerful promise of liberal evangelicalism, which he sees a pastoral middle way between the secular city and fundamentalism.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
We may experience division in our cries to God, hearing only what’s loud right next to us. But God hears us as one human family, crying out for blessing.
From Dachau to Durham, N.C., Holocaust survivors' ashes find fitting burial
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Conservative Methodists see differences in church as 'irreconcilable'
Will the United Methodist Church soon have to drop the “United” part of its name?...
The machine gun
We found the scatter of rusted shards at the edge of a swamp. It reeked of death, in a cold, metallic way that only human beings would inflict.
Five things businesses need to learn from the church
I’m not writing a book on the Gospel According to the Fortune 500 any time soon. Do you know why? Because churches have a much more sustainable business model than businesses do.
Freedom from self-consciousness
Several years ago, I realized that, for a long time, I had been fighting back tears whenever I would see children run gleefully around a playground or hear them squeal with delight as they played, or notice their wonder over wildflowers, squirrels, and birdsong. It would happen, too, when I listened to a choir of children sing at the top of their lungs without embarrassment or when I saw a kids’ soccer team take the field with buoyant energy.
What’s in a Phrase? Pausing Where Scripture Gives You Pause, by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
McEntyre has a deep concern for how language is used (see her previous work, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies)....
Fibbing about church
A new study finds that Americans say they attend religious services more than they actually do. Is this bad news for churches?
Blessing and withdrawal
From Easter morning until Ascension Thursday, Jesus is present and absent, enfleshed and distant, there and not there. He breaks bread and disappears. He shows up like a ghost, and then eats fish like everyone else. At the end of the story he blesses them, and then he withdraws.
It’s striking that the disciples’ response, rather than to be confused or bothered by this yes and no of resurrection, is to head back to Jerusalem and worship with great joy. I think I would have wanted more.
Led into Mystery, by John W. de Gruchy
The story of John de Gruchy’s grief for his eldest son is wrenching. Yet he also wants to offer an account of Christian hope that has both biblical and scientific integrity.
Virtual real presence
People are looking to their computers, tablets, and phones for sacred moments. How are churches responding?
Just because the science is clear doesn't mean it's the whole story
It used to always be energy policy that divided environmentalists: is nuclear power a problem or a solution? Is natural gas just as bad as petroleum, or a useful transitional better-than?
Now that food policy has gone from being the subject everyone ignores to the subject everyone has opinions on, the thing ruining friendships is GMOs.
There is an "I" in worship
A few Sundays ago, as the deacons brought the offering up to the table and the congregation sang the Old 100th doxology, I found myself doing what I always do when singing that doxology: changing t...
Other people saying things
"The kind of trenchant racism to which black people have persistently been subjected can never be defeated by making its victims more respectable. ...
My Promised Land, by Ari Shavit
In this personal, impressionistic history, journalist Shavit lays out the variety of Zionisms—secular and religious, socialist and capitalist, ascetic and hedonistic, utopian and pragmatic—that con...
House considers a prayer plaque at WWII monument; interfaith coalition says ‘no’
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Jennifer Knapp makes a case for being gay and Christian in upcoming book
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Religious rights watchdog pushes to add Pakistan, Syria to list of worst offenders
c. 2014 Religion News Service...
Latinos drift from Catholic Church
A new report, “The Shifting Religious Identity of Latinos in the United States,” reads very much like a biography of Fernando Alcantar....