Latest Articles
Tackling stigma of mental illness
Frank Page, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, was getting ready to work in the yard in the fall of 2009 when the phone rang....
In the heavenly places
The preacher faces several challenges in these Ascension texts. How can we present Jesus’ departure from the earth as an occasion for not sorrow but celebration? How to translate the kingship and hierarchical language into imagery that speaks to a world no longer governed by kings and monarchs?
Feminist biblical scholars note a third challenge: How can we counter Luke-Acts' use of the Ascension to exert a degree of social control?
Sanctuary
Sometimes, especially lately, someone will come up to me and sort of whisper to me, "You know, I'm not that liberal, but I really do think we need to do something about gun violence in this country...
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Mordechai Beck on Israeli politics, Trudy Bush on Barbara Kingsolver, more.
Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver
On her way to a desperate assignation, an unhappy wife and mother is stopped in her tracks by a miracle: a mountain ablaze with color and motion, a fire without heat or sound....
Revolutionary continuity
The meeting of Benedict and Francis, characterized in the media as "potentially problematic," was in fact dramatically unproblematic.
Pentagon debunks reports of anti-Christian policies
Christian conservatives became alarmed recently over reports and rumors that the Pentagon was considering new policies aimed at discriminating against Ch...
"Wanted Alive: Narragansett Apple"
When I saw the MoJo headline "Why Your Supermarket Only Sells 5 Kinds of Apples," I expected an informative piece about industrial agriculture's disincentive for biodiversity and the various problems this causes. I've read that article before, but for whatever reason I clicked anyway.
Friday digest
New today from the Century: Carol Zaleski on the papal transition, Steve Thorngate on the Mermaid Avenue box set, more.
Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Ron Rash
Ron Rash writes the way a fisherman filets. Nothing is spared getting to the meat. His sharpened knife sends the extras flying off the table. What’s left is naked narrative....
Mermaid Avenue: The Complete Sessions, by Billy Bragg and Wilco
On Mermaid Avenue (1998), Billy Bragg and Wilco wrote and recorded music for some of the 3,000 tuneless lyrics Woody Guthrie left behind....
Should we sell our church building?
I know some of you have a love/hate relationship with your church buildings. Your church’s floors may have asbestos in them and the roof may leak and the sanctuary is not wheelchair accessible. Maybe you are secretly hoping for a strategically placed tornado.
Or maybe you should sell your building? Wouldn’t that make life easier?
Thursday digest
New today from the Century: Walter Brueggemann reviews Peter Brown, Gail Irwin on whether or not to sell a church building, more.
Discovering the poor
Peter Brown considers the fourth-century church's radicality concerning wealth—and its readiness to adapt as circumstances seemed to require.
Simone Felice, by Simone Felice
I once wrote that the Felice Brothers have one capable lead singer at best: while Ian Felice sings more expressively than his brother James, it’s not a pretty sound. But I was overlooking the Catskills folk-rockers’ third brother, Simone.
Singing from one book: Why hymnals matter
Many churchgoers greet the announcement of a new hymnal with a single puzzled, even outraged question: Why?
Debating hymns
In preparing the new PCUSA hymnal, our committee may have made some wrong decisions. But they weren't careless or cavalier ones.
‘Nuns on the Bus’ will hit the road for immigration reform
NEW YORK (RNS) The “Nuns on the Bus” are revving up their engines for another national campaign, only this time the Catholic sisters are taking their mobile platform for social justice a...