Latest Articles
In Newtown churches, many questions - and tears - but few answers
NEWTOWN, Conn. (RNS) Dealing with the pain of the school shooting that claimed 28 lives will take faith, support and joyous Christmas celebrations, church leaders said at the first Sunday (Dec....
Newtown shootings renew questions about evil and suffering
"Oh, God!"
That cry has echoed ever since news of the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn....
Massacre galvanizes 'cross lobby' on gun control
The shooting deaths of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school has revived religious support for gun control, galvanizing a movement that has struggled to gain traction against th...
WCC blasts U.S. for preventing event in Cuba
The head of the World Council of Churches is blasting U.S. policy on Cuba for preventing a scheduled meeting of the Latin American Council of Churches in the communist island nation....
Sing us a lullaby
Sing us a lullaby, Rachel, the kind of lullaby that you’ve been singing across a lifetime.
Pray and put up a (nonviolent) fight
It hasn’t even been six months since I quaked irrationally with fear as my husband went off with a friend to a sleepy little cinema in western Pennsylvania, weeks after the Aurora shooting....
The spirit in which we preach
Like many pastors, I remember clearly the first sermon I ever preached. It was during my second semester of seminary, and I probably worked on it for 50 hours. Each detail was written and rewritten until I was confident I had produced the greatest theological document by a seminarian in quite some time.
Monday digest
New today from the Century: Fighting for change after Newtown, the dark night of the church, more.
Chaos and continuity
Luminaries praise Paula Fredriksen's Sin as gripping and magnificent. Her book on Augustine was both of these things. This one isn't.
Dark night of the church: Relearning the essentials
Maybe what sociologists call mainline decline is God pulling us away from external things so we can rediscover our union with God in love.
Tribal injustice
A crime is committed at the round house, a sacred Ojibwe space on a North Dakota reservation....
Does the Bible prove open theology?
I’ve been working with my graduate theological students lately on issues pertaining to open theism. A few biblical passages have played key roles in the discussion....
Friday digest
New today from the Century: Dark night of the church, open theology and the Bible, more.
Soul experiments
What are university churches for? Are they nostalgic relics, settings for academic rites, anomalies in uneasy relationship with schools' priorities?
Jews and Muslims applaud German vote to protect circumcision
The German parliament has relieved Muslims and Jews by passing a law Wednesday (Dec. 12) that allows infant male circumcision for religious reasons....
Update: Evangelical grad student settles with university
A graduate counseling student who was expelled from Eastern Michigan University after citing her faith when she declined to advise a gay client has settled her case with the school....
Gay marriage a long time coming for widow Edie Windsor
NEW YORK (RNS) After a 40-year engagement and 20 short months of marriage, Edie Windsor and her late spouse, Thea Spyer, are getting their day in court....
Poll: More than one-third of Americans see signs of end times in extreme weather
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than a third of Americans believe the severity of recent natural disasters is evidence that we are in the "end times" described in the New Testament – a period of turmoil prec...
Fate of accused abusive pastor falls to his flock
Pastor Travis Smith paced First Baptist Church’s sanctuary, decorated for the holidays. He addressed his congregation in Stover, Missouri, about forgiveness....
The landlord's game
As a kid I loved to play Monopoly. Loved it. Friends and I would have marathon games, fighting over close readings of the rules, bargaining for half an hour while the dice and younger siblings sat idle, the whole deal. My sisters still talk about the time I prematurely ended a game I was losing by flipping the board over and scattering the pieces everywhere.