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When I left North Carolina at age 22, I never planned to be back in a Baptist church. Years later, here I am.

I  would love to tell you that I read psalms every morning, poetry every noon, theology every afternoon and prize-winning fiction every night....

This Sunday’s lectionary texts are particularly awful....

New today from the Century: Clyde Edgerton returns to church, Barbara Brown Taylor's reading habits, more.

Here are some things I read recently but didn't get around to blogging about.

In February 1941, Henry Luce, the formidable publisher of Time, Life and Fortune, published one of the most memorable op-eds in the history of American journalism....

Sick people long to be touched—the very thing loved ones tend to avoid. In today's mechanized medicine, doctors keep their distance as well.

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I didn't post anything during the presidential debate last night, because I watched it without the benefit of an internet connection. Also because bona fide live-blogging can be seriously annoying to read. But if you want it in digest form, here's how I reacted in front of the TV.

A curious thing is happening this Sunday in churches across America. For some, this curious thing is Pulpit Freedom Sunday. The day, promoted by the conservative group Alliance Defending Freedom for the fourth year, urges pastors to speak out in favor of candidates they support, defying IRS restrictions that forbid such political speech in religious nonprofits. It’s generally a bad idea, and even most conservatives Christian pastors disagree with the ADF on this one. Yet there are still about 1,000 pastors who signed up for the ADF’s intiative, and, of course, Fox News personality Mike Huckabee has pledged his own support. Meanwhile, in many mainline churches, the curious thing this Oct. 7 will not be Pulpit Freedom Sunday, but World Communion Sunday.

New today from the Century: Tom Long on healing touch, Will Willimon reviews Lamin Sanneh, more.

Homies and Hermanos: God and Gangs in Central America, by Robert Bren­neman....

For the last three decades, Lamin Sanneh has been a reliable and perceptive guide for those of us trying to think through interfaith issues, rethink missions and understand Christianity in its global reach. When I discovered Sanneh, I found his angle on Islamic/Christian conversation to be a provocative and refreshing relief from some of the fluff we were getting on that topic. Sanneh’s was also the first voice I heard to renovate the commonly accepted negative view of Christian missions.

Reading fiction has done more to baptize my imagination, inform my faith and strengthen my courage than any prayer technique has.

My writing life has become increasingly dependent upon my reading life, so much so that I generally begin my writing day by reading a new or newish volume of poetry (or the occasional richly textured work of fiction).

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Kudos to Mitt Romney for suggesting a concrete and sensible income-tax reform: capping deductions at $17,000. Now, it's not clear whether he means tax liability or taxable income. As Dylan Matthews explains, that's the difference between a highly progressive (in the technical sense, not the euphemism-for-liberal sense) proposal and one that would affect a lot of middle-class households.

Libby Anne and Fred Clark have kindly pointed out that we have just entered the month, October 2012, about which writers from Focus on the Family penned a “letter from the future” almost 4 years ago, detailing the changes that would allegedly result if Barack Obama were to become president.

New today from the Century: Fiction and salvation, Shirley Showalter reviews Rhoda Janzen, more.