Latest Articles
Armenia’s survivors
Armenia is a nation of 3.3 million in a territory a fourth the size of Pennsylvania. Its small scale belies a much larger ancient reality.
Lutherans elect first openly gay bishop
A prominent Lutheran scholar and theologian in California will become the first openly gay bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a denomination that opened its ministry to gay and p...
PCUSA membership drop in 2012 exceeds 2011 slide
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which voted to ordain openly gay and lesbian ministers in May 2011, continued its multidecade membership losses, reporting the loss of more than 100,000 members la...
Muslims who go online see U.S. culture in better light
Want Muslims to have a better opinion of the United States? Get them on the Internet....
Greeley was outspoken as priest, sociologist and novelist
Andrew Greeley’s sharp-tongued critiques of the Catholic Church, drawn from his priestly experience and sociological research, often irked the hierarchy....
Sunni and Shi‘ite Muslims clash in Syrian civil war
The Syrian civil war is increasingly drawing in nations across the Middle East. The conflict, which sets Muslim against Muslim, threatens to pit world powers against each other....
Oldest complete scroll of Torah found in Italy
An Italian university professor says he has found what is believed to be world’s oldest complete Torah scroll....
A monument to unbelief erected on public land
After years of fights over religious monuments on public land, a county courthouse in northern Florida will soon be the home of the nation’s first monument to atheism on public property....
FBI widens list of groups subject to hate crimes
For Raed Jarrar, the FBI’s recent decision to begin tracking hate crimes against Arabs is a victory in a larger war....
Freeze frame
I can’t quit thinking about Yakub. In my purse I have a print clipping that includes a photo of the 12-year-old boy staring into the camera with a copy of Steve Jobs’s biography held high over his head. I pull it out from time to time and imagine Yakub at work.
Thursday digest
New today from the Century: Philip Jenkins on Armenia's survivors, Frank Honeycutt remembers WIll Campbell, more.
Remembering Will Campbell
Campbell got into trouble in lots of different ways. As a seminarian, I was particularly impressed that he dared to drink whiskey with the Klan.
No Joke, by Ruth R. Wisse
One cannot think of American comedy without mentioning Jewish contributions, from the Marx brothers to Mel Brooks....
Song for a time of terror
The Song of Songs is about cherishing everything that makes another human being distinctive. It's the opposite of indiscriminate violence.
Citing risk to adoptions, Missouri gov. vetoes anti-Shariah bill
c. 2013 Religion News Service...
When the mainline told us what to read
It has become cliché to note that we live in a world of information overload. Being cliché, of course, does not make it any less true. We professors are well aware of our inability to keep up with the fantastic production of new knowledge in our own specialties, yet the torrent of words overwhelms not only scholars but all readers. Who can possibly read all the books, magazines, journals, newspapers, blogs, tweets and posts worth reading? And what is worth reading, anyway?
This deluge is often ascribed to the digital revolution, and indeed the internet and pervasive connectivity have greatly expanded our reading options. Nevertheless, the historically minded will recognize in our current situation merely the ongoing ripples of earlier information revolutions.
A lot can change in three years
During the time of Elijah’s ministry, while the LORD was particularly angry with Ahab and his Ba’al-worshiping wife Jezebel, God shut off the rain in the fertile crescent for three years....
Wednesday digest
New today from the Century: Stephanie Paulsell on the Song of Songs, Matt Hedstrom on when the mainline told us what to read, more.