Latest Articles
Exhibit highlights Tiffany's lasting impact on American church design
NEW YORK (RNS) Louis C....
Pope Benedict XVI tightens church control over Catholic charities
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Bishops must exercise closer supervision over Catholic charities and ensure that their activities do not contradict church doctrine, according to new rules issued by Pope Benedic...
Priest ousted for support of women’s ordination
A long-running struggle between Catholic authorities and Roy Bourgeois over his support for ordaining women has ended with Bourgeois’s dismissal from the priesthood and his religious order, the Mar...
Bishop Ting dies at 97; led Chinese churches
Bishop K. H. Ting, the longtime leader of China’s official Protestant Church, died in Nanjing on November 22 at age 97....
Tutu urges Uganda to drop bid to jail gays and lesbians
Nobel Laureate archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu has urged Uganda to scrap a controversial draft law that would send gays and lesbians to jail and, some say, put them at risk of the death penalty....
Nietzsche in the kitchen
I got hired at a restaurant recently. I’ve worked food service in the past, but those were all front-of-house positions. This time, they’ve got me washing dishes.
Now, I knew ahead of time that dishwashing would be among my duties, and the task is relatively simple: get the dishes, clean the dishes, return the dishes to their rightful places. Regardless, the managers had a trainer show me the ropes and then watch as I duplicated the steps, proving I could get my first solo shift.
Creflo Dollar, Cindy Crawford and salvation
At the gym recently, I found myself on the elliptical machine with two television options in front of me....
Thursday digest
New today from the Century: Beth Felker Jones on New Girl, Steven Porter on dishwashing and the will to power, more.
Emerging as adults
Our culture tells young adults to resist adulthood with all their might. New Girl portrays characters who want something more.
The Long Walk to Freedom, edited by Devon W. Carbado and Donald Weise
The runaway slave narratives compiled by Devon Carbado and Donald Weise are as moving as any story by Suzanne Collins or J.R.R. Tolkien.
From vegetarianism to fasting
I found this incident at Vermont College very sad. The sustainable-farming-oriented school planned to slaughter two oxen it's had for years and serve them at the dining hall. Faced with protests from animal rights activists—who successfully prevented the college from finding a willing slaughterhouse—the college ended up having to euthanize one of the animals, who had a bad injury and declining quality of life.
As planned, the ox was killed. But nobody got to eat him.
Near picks
“Anyone who reads independently and spiritedly is going to carry an eclectic canon around in his head,” writes Christian Wiman. “That is half the fun of it all.”
For the past five years or so, I have had the responsibility of coming up with the novels to put on the Century’s list of Christmas picks for fiction. At first I was baffled by this job. Did I have to read every new book?
Wednesday digest
New today from the Century: The power of introverts, from vegetarianism to fasting, more.
Introverts unite
Susan Cain contends that introverts are both misunderstood and underappreciated. She finds this infuriating.
New life without parole: Ministry behind bars
When I met Jonah I noticed two things: he was wracked with overwhelming guilt and very much wanted to die, and he knew the Bible.
Sunday, December 16, 2012: Luke 3:7-18
It was a Thursday morning, and I was preoccupied with writing this article and considering the words of John the Baptist from the passage in Luke 3....
The essence of Advent
It’s an odd year for my family. My parents, 88 and 89, have lived rich and full lives, and my husband, children and I have shared holidays large and small with them.
But this year they are confined to rooms in a nursing home.
Make straight a highway
The son of a truck driver, I like highways and image of travel. Checking The New Interpreter’s Bible Dictionary's entry about roads and highways, I learned that a messila was a built-up road, intentionally constructed and improved, while a derekh (Num. 20:17, 19, Judg. 21:19) was a path was formed because of constant use and thus had become a road.
Tuesday digest
New today from the Century: Prison ministry, the holidays with aging elders, more.
Sunday, December 16, 2012: Luke 3:7-18
It was a Thursday morning, and I was preoccupied with writing this article and considering the words of John the Baptist from the passage in Luke 3....