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Sunday, August 25, 2013: Luke 13:10-17
I once read an article by a medical doctor who tried to identify the condition that kept the woman in Luke 13 crippled for 18 years....
Jean Bethke Elshtain, 72, Christian ethicist
Christian ethicist Jean Bethke Elshtain, a scholar at the University of Chicago who shaped national conversations on war and peace, died August 11 at age 72....
When the attorney general does Congress's job for it
First Attorney General Eric Holder announces plans to make aggressive use of what’s left of the Voting Rights Act in order to make up for what the Supreme Court took away. Now he’s instructing prosecutors to leave out key details when bringing cases against nonviolent drug offenders, in order to keep mandatory minimum laws from kicking in.
Is the AG a politically nimble crusader, overstepping the bounds of his office to pursue his version of justice?
Not exactly.
Seed parables
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is the other thug we’ve been battling. It has beautiful flowers, butterflies love it, and it blooms for months, which is why it’s still sold as an ornamental except in states wise enough to ban it. Some loosestrife is marketed as “sterile,” suggesting it's okay to plant, but researchers have shown that the so-called “sterile” plants are as prolific as their peers.
The problem with loosestrife is that, grown on a continent where it has no natural insect predators, it takes over wetland habitat.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Stories for dinner, seed parables, mandatory minimums.
Temperature rising: Climate crises in Africa
Climate change will bring a laundry list of catastrophes to Africa. Across the continent, people are trying to adapt to the changing weather.
The mystery of those we love
One of my favorite things to teach in a seminary setting is Christology, particularly the early church’s development of what would become “orthodox” understandings of both the person and work of Jesus.
The gift of gray hairs
It happened again. A young family visited our congregation recently. They are looking for a church. They liked the worship service....
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Eileen Flanagan on climate crises in Africa, Diane Roth on the gift of gray hairs, more.
Sunday morning blues
I support my church's requirement that retired clergy stay away. But nobody warned me how much I would miss all this—or if they did, I wasn't listening.
Insurance gap looms for small churches
An effort to tweak President Obama’s health-care reform bill to fill a gap for church health insurance plans could fail because of Republicans’ insistence on repealing the law....
Assemblies of God posts impressive numbers
The Assemblies of God, a denomination rooted in rural and small town America, appears to have leaped into the 21st century in a dramatic way....
Evangelical ‘messy middle’ is more accepting of gays
A new voice is emerging in the evangelical community, one that is turning away from the church’s vocal opposition to homosexuality in favor of a more tolerant attitude....
How should the State Department engage religion?
This week, the State Department announced that Christian ethicist Shaun Casey will lead its new office for “religious engagement.” Within the network of the State Department’s various offices, this one stands out as potentially divisive and potentially useful. Under Hillary Clinton, the State Department turned its attention to nontraditional diplomatic partners—and she intentionally engaged, among others, religious partners. That focus has continued under John Kerry, resulting in the official announcement of this office.
But the U.S. government continues to face the issue of how exactly to engage religion.
In satisfaction alone
Boy, "In Christ Alone" just will not stay out of the churchy news. A few weeks ago it was standing in for all hymnody ever in the face of the chorus-singing horde; now it's standing in for confessional evangelicals' valiant defense against the liberal horde. Coming soon: "In Christ Alone" as a symbol of resistance to common-cup communion, or missional-everything fervor, or preaching from your iPad.
But about that liberal horde.
Other people saying things
"Collusion isn't allowed even in a good cause. But collusion is necessary to make progress....
Friday digest
New today from the Century: John Buchanan on missing church, Amy Frykholm on the State Department and religion, more.
Us liberals
In discussions of Protestantism's winners and losers, what often gets lost is how much both liberals and conservatives have changed internally.