Latest Articles
Are more Bible versions bad for the Good Book?
If you stacked all the Bibles sitting in American homes, the tower
would rise 29 million feet, nearly 1,000 times the height of Mount
Everest....
Crystal Cathedral files for bankruptcy protection
Unable to satisfy creditors owed millions of dollars, the ailing
Crystal Cathedral ministry in Southern California has filed for
bankruptcy protection....
U.S. disputes claim that Islam is invalid faith
Islam is a valid religion that is entitled to constitutional
protection, says a U.S. attorney who stepped into a debate about a
proposed mosque and Islamic center in Tennessee....
(Retro)sexism in the church
I
learned a new word recently and then encountered it three times that day.
"Retrosexism" hasn't made it into the Oxford English Dictionary yet, but a...
Sarah Coakley's runners-up
Suppose someone who hasn't
been keeping up with theology for the past 25 years now wants to read the most...
New polls show rising support for gay marriage, little change on abortion
WASHINGTON (ABP) – Abortion and gay rights appear to be decoupling
as important dividing lines among Americans when it comes to social...
After teen suicides, gay opponents look inward
(RNS) When Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi killed himself
after his roommate allegedly broadcast his sexual encounter with another...
Married or not: Standards for gay clergy
How will the ELCA hold gay pastors who aren't married accountable to the standard of monogamy and lifelong commitment? Do same-sex couples have to prove what is taken for granted with married heterosexual couples?
Land battle: Settlements and Middle East peace
Attacks on Israelis inside or emanating from the West Bank are now almost nonexistent. Peace efforts are focused instead on settlements—because the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a conflict over land.
World churches' leader's speech reaches to evangelical Christians
Cape Town, October 18 (ENI)--The head of the World Council of Churches has reached out to a global gathering of Evangelicals saying Christians of different traditions need to learn from each other ...
Harvard scholar holds the threads to social fabric
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (RNS) Harvard University scholar Robert Putnam has
earned a reputation as an expert on the threads that hold America's...
Kingdom-sized desire
We're all perpetually longing for love. Fortunate are those who realize early that another human being can't meet this unrequitable need. Even more fortunate are men and women of prayer who realize that peace comes by embracing the longing itself.
Stories that get to us
Words of judgment are difficult to hear. Actually, I have no trouble hearing how they apply to others. And when the preacher gives a logical explanation of how the law applies to me, I understand it and nod my head in agreement. But it often makes little connection with my heart and even less with the way I live.
Cross-cultural prayer
I prayed with a young man today for healing - specifically healing from the bondage of evil spirits - which doesn't happen a lot in my ministry....
What our taxes pay for
An itemized income-tax receipt would say, “So you want to talk about reducing government spending? Talk about these things first.” Which would be a far more focused conversation than we’re having now.
Kingdom-sized desire
We're all perpetually longing for love. Fortunate are those who realize early that another human being can't meet this unrequitable need. Even more fortunate are men and women of prayer who realize that peace comes by embracing the longing itself.
Free for what?
Franzen has turned his considerable novelistic talents to a kind of inquisitorial examination of the American ideal of freedom. He shows how freedom is negatively construed—focused on what we are free from and not on what freedom might be for, what worthy ends it might be used to pursue.
Never Let Me Go
Based on the award-winning 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also penned The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go is that rare story that doesn't rely on a revelatory plot twist to make its...
Fall books: Reviews
Our fall books issue includes reviews by Robert Westbrook, Susan R. Garrett, Stanley Hauerwas, Randall Balmer, Anne Blue Wills, Valerie Weaver-Zercher, Shirley Showalter, Amy Frykholm and Brian Doyle.
If you meet the Buddha
Generalizing
about a religion is a dangerous thing. A generalization that had seemed safe
was that Buddhism is a peaceful religion. It's all about compassion, isn't...