I want
to arrive at the kind of equilibrium admired by the
disciples who broke down the barrier to St. Anthony's fortress. To do this, I have to befriend the demons dwelling in the cave of my heart.
(RNS) The shock of the 9/11 attacks was so great, and the personal
losses so deep, that many people understandably sought simple answers
for such overwhelming malevolence....
If we got all these spiritual-not-religious people together, they might find out that most of America agrees with them. But getting them together would be way too much like church.
I had an English professor who used to get
deeply annoyed whenever students would cite some literary passage but not
bother to quote it exactly. I recall him telling us, "Look, if you're going to
quote somebody, get it right."
Dove Award winner Francesca Battistelli has proved to be a refreshing breeze in the musty swamp of the Christian music industry, delivering material that sparkles with energy and vibrancy.
When documentaries explore Christianity, they have little
difficulty finding diverse manifestations of faith and practice. A global survey also reveals a surprising diversity when it comes to the content of the Bible.
Criticism of Rick Perry's religious beliefs has been dismissed as just the same old secularist
paranoia. But this misses the significance of the New Apostolic Reformation.
The resources for faith formation have grown in recent decades, yet the task remains elusive. After all, everything the church does is formative—and one can never predict how formation will happen.