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Muscle memory
For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Dragseth's curr...
Russian heart
The opening lines of Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground (1864) can hardly be described as inviting: "I am a sick man. . . . I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man....
Geneva-based ENInews suspends operation
Faced with a 50 percent cut in funding in 2011 from the World Council of Churches, the Geneva-based ENInews suspended its five-days-a-week news service on December 21....
Catholic school enrollment moves steadily downward
Not much keeps New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond up at night. But one thing does make him toss and turn....
Abortion rift divides bishops, Catholic hospitals
An umbrella group of Catholic hospitals is backing a Phoenix hospital
that was stripped of its church affiliation, thereby setting the stage...
No messenger or angel
There's an interesting variation between the New International and New Revised Standard versions of Isaiah 63:9. The NIV expresses quite beautifully that "the angel of his presence saved them," while the NRSV contends that "it was no messenger or angel but his presence that saved them." Both convey Isaiah's revelation that God does not plan to redeem creation by force, by tinkering with free will, or from afar. God redeems creation by becoming one of us, by drawing near to us and being with us.
Mary's grammar
The final exam in my theology class surprised me. Instead of complex essay questions, there was one simple question: defend the grammar of the Magnificat....
A review of The History of White People
Have you ever wondered why there are so many terms for white people? Caucasian is often the designation on the census form....
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The third Narnia film features a new director, Michael Apted. The good news is that Dawn Treader is a worthy successor to Andrew Adamson's splendiferous earlier entries.
Sunday, January 2, 2010: Jeremiah 31:7-14; Psalm 147:12-20; Ephesians 1:3-14; John 1:(1-9), 10-18
On the first morning of every new year, I take a three-foot-long saw with three-inch teeth, walk out onto Lake Michigan at 20 below in my sandals and swimsuit, hack a hole in the two-foot-thick ice...
Poll finds family, not Jesus' birth, at heart of Christmas
(RNS) While nearly all Americans celebrate Christmas, most focus
more on family than religious traditions, a new survey shows.
...
Does atheist jeopardize church-state separation?
He is the most famous—and perhaps the loneliest—atheist in the
country. For 14 years, Michael Newdow, an emergency room doctor and an...
Vatican says teaching on condoms unchanged
According to the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI's comments published
late last year about condoms do not mark a change in "Catholic moral...
From faith to proof
In Laurence Cossé's A
Corner of the Veil, a French novel translated into English in 1999, a...
From prisoner to activist shareholder
Last week Marian Wright Edelman chronicled the work of Strength to Love, a prisoner reentry...
A review of Christmas
Heinz, who proclaims that Christmas is his favorite season, looks at the extensive material festival it's become and is more intrigued than bothered....
Acacias in the desert: Breaking the cycle of drought
Life in Africa's Sahel region is precarious. There is little biodiversity, annual crops offer a meager harvest, and when the rains don't come famine does. But there is a way to break this cycle.
Muslim leaders probe problem of disaffected youths
LOS ANGELES (RNS) Muslim leaders are admitting disaffected Muslim
youth such as the alleged Oregon bomber arrested last month are ripe for
online recruitment by extremists.
...
Jewish groups have mixed views on Eric Cantor, new House majority leader
Virginia Republican Eric Cantor, upon becoming House majority leader
this month, will be the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress in...