Latest Articles
On putting your hand to the plow and not looking back
After church on Sunday, I got ready to go on vacation. But first, I wanted to visit a parish member who is in the hospital....
Friday digest
New today from the Century: Philip Jenkins on the Irish nones, Carol Zaleski on C. S. Lewis, more.
Ironic witness: Embodying faith in a postmodern age
Our age doesn't need theoretical answers to intellectual challenges of belief. It needs personal responses to people's spiritual problems.
Feds give guidelines on facing a church shooter
For the first time, the federal government has issued written guidelines for houses of worship that are confronted with a homicidal gunman....
U.S. can’t list Westboro Baptist as a ‘hate group’
In response to five “We the People” petitions, the White House condemned the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church but said it is powerless to list the Kansas church as a hate group and remove its...
Food demand vs. food need
A recent report from PLOS One finds that growth in global agricultural yield is not projected to keep up with growth in demand. Brad Plumer picked it up, and someone gave his post this blog-snappy headline: "This terrifying chart shows we're not growing enough food to feed the world."
Well, not exactly.
War sermons
Along with fireworks and barbecue, the fourth of July has traditionally been an occasion for speeches that blend thanksgiving for military sacrifices with some appeal to divine favor for America. Last year President Obama continued this tradition with his speech from the White House.
Wednesday digest
New today from the Century: July 4 and war sermons, bearing ironic witness, the Bible in English lit, more.
Other people saying things
"With today’s agreement, progressives can refocus their criticisms of Pritzker on her family’s use of offshore tax shelters."
The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature
Biblical material pervades the works of English literature. Bible stories have been retold, recast and reinterpreted....
Fake marriage, real kids
The Americans is more than a spy show. It explores how a hidden identity is hard to nourish—and an identity embodied in habit is harder to disavow.
Carter says faith still used against women
The abuse of women is “the most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation on Earth” and too often justified in the name of religion, former president Jimmy Carter said at a June 27–29 confer...
Sunday, July 14, 2013: Luke 10:25-37
When I was in high school I was fascinated with the field of evolutionary psychology....
After Section 5
I spent last week on a rural island in Wisconsin, where the Century was cosponsoring the Wisconsin Council of Churches' annual summer forum. It was a great event. It was also a pretty momentous news week, and there I was away from the office and mostly offline.
Since returning I've been taken aback by just how much more ink the Supreme Court's Defense of Marriage Act decision has gotten than its Voting Rights Act decision.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Beth Felker Jones on The Americans, Carol Howard Merritt on wrestling with faith, more.
Wrestling with faith
Most spiritual leaders have wrestled with faith. Most of your pastors and most of the people that you look up to have questioned their faith and doubted God. It’s just that when we do it, we call it fancy, poetic things, like, “The dark night of the soul.”
What happened to Occupy? The divided left and the demise of a movement: The divided left and the demise of a movement
"We are the 99 percent" was a brilliant rallying cry. But those five words were Occupy's essential contribution, and they came at the start.
Public school yoga classes not religious, says judge
A California judge has ruled that the teaching of yoga in public schools does not establish a government interest in religion....