Latest Articles
Assault on professor part of wave of attacks on Sikhs, Muslims, others
c. 2013 Religion News Service...
Methodists’ top court to consider defiant same-sex marriages
Facing a wave of open defiance to church law, the top court of the United Methodist Church is set to consider rulings challenging church teaching on homosexuality....
Mind the gap
Many of our institutional theologians wonder why they ought to be on Facebook. Many look at social media as a trivia game that they’d rather not play, while the basic architecture of human existence is being rearranged through our avatars.
Wednesday digest
New today from the Century: Beth Felker Jones on the demise of the Purple Pie Man, Sarah Azaransky on the civil rights movement and the global community, more.
The civil rights movement and the global community
When President Obama argued for U.S. strikes on Syria, he used a familiar trope:
When, with modest effort and risk, we can stop children from being gassed to death and thereby make our own children safer over the long run, I believe we should act. That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.
Yet his proposed Syria policy put him in new political territory: against the views of a majority of African Americans.
How Jesus became God
Geza Vermes provides a compelling sketch of the charismatic trajectory in ancient Judaism and locates Jesus within that pattern.
Christendom in Georgia
Most of what westerners know about the Caucasus region is negative. But the South Caucasus has a different history, and Christianity plays a central role.
Sunday, October 6, 2013: Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:19-26; Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
In late July the largest city in my state declared bankruptcy. In 1950, Detroit, Michigan, was the fifth largest city in the nation, roughly the same size as Philadelphia and Los Angeles....
Teaching religion with the Saudis
My mother was on the phone, her voice revealing her concern. “Everyone at church today prayed for you and your class,” she said....
Who's exploiting Margaret Mary Vojtko?
Officials at Duquesne University are disputing some of the facts of the story of Margaret Mary Vojtko, a longtime adjunct professor there who recently died sick, uninsured and impoverished. But they don't dispute labor lawyer Daniel Kovalik's original account of her poor pay and lack of benefits.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Phil Jenkins on Christendom in Georgia, Kendra Weddle Irons on teaching religion to a classroom of Saudis, more.
Deep Roots, by Steven Curtis Chapman
This album variously rolls with the calming reassurance of a Dixie river and chugs along like a steam engine....
The purpose of dinosaurs: Extinction and the goodness of God
If God is both the author and lover of creation, why would God develop complex beings through a process that necessitates species extinction?
Retail evangelist: What I learned selling shoes
One year when I was between interim gigs I got a job at Macy's. My training there wasn't unlike church outreach training.
Open up
"Ephphatha!" Jesus cries in Mark 7. "Open up!" In that passage the command is specifically about hearing and speech. But the image seems emblematic of the gospel in many ways.
The NRA and a shooting close to home
My earliest memories are of Nairobi. From the age of two until my family returned stateside right before I went into first grade, Kenya was my home....
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Bethany Sollereder on extinction and God's goodness, Norman Bendroth on ministry and selling shoes, more.
Minority report: Lutherans and Methodists in Russia
The resurgence of religious life since the collapse of communism has greatly benefited the Orthodox Church. Protestant churches are few and far between.