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A review of Mark
Before his untimely death in November of 2008, William Placher was a celebrated teacher who exercised his gifts of exceptional insight and clarity of expression not only in the classroom but also in his many books, book chapters and edited works. One project in progress at the time of his passing was a biblical commentary series authored by well-respected theologians and published by Westminster John Knox.
American Shariah? That's news to American Muslims
(RNS) Oklahoma state Rep. Rex Duncan expects his "Save Our State"
referendum to keep Islamic law out of state courts to pass easily on...
Emilie Townes's runners-up
Suppose someone who hasn't
been keeping up with theology for the past 25 years now wants to read the most...
How do you make Sundays go smoothly?
A
couple weeks ago, Sunday morning didn't quite go as planned....
"As any had need"
A friend of mine realized that she only had one friend who went to
church. As someone who cares deeply about the church, she wondered why...
A review of The Bradbury Report
The year is 2071 when the narrator of this novel, who calls himself Ray Bradbury to conceal his identity, begins his report....
Sunday, October 24, 2010: Luke 18:9-14
Jesus uses this parable to lure us into a trap. Hearing it we cannot help but be thankful we are not like that Pharisee. If we are thankful we are not like him, then we are just like him.
Courts uphold teen's piercing, religious license plates
(RNS) Two federal courts have issued strong defenses of religious
expression in two separate decisions, one involving a teenager's nose
piercing and the other a license plate....
Tea Party activists akin to religious Republicans
Americans who identify with the Tea Party are more religious than the general population but are less religious than conservative Christians, according to a new American Values poll....
Vatican official criticizes choice for Nobel Prize
The Vatican's top bioethics official expressed "perplexity" after the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded October 4 to the inventor of in vitro fertilization (IVF)....
Court rules Methodist agency in D.C. is not limited in advocacy
Officials working in the United Methodist Building, located on Capitol Hill, are not limited to advocacy on temperance-related issues, a District of Columbia Superior Court judge has ruled....
Churches leaving ELCA evaluate the cost
South Dakota pastor Julius Badigo has long known that Christian discipleship is costly. For him, that cost is increasingly measured in dollars—to the tune of thousands per month....
ELCA to cut 65 staffers due to lowered giving
To adjust for lower contributions to the national church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has announced a new plan that will cut about 65 jobs of staff members....
Critics say action needed at faith-based office
Six months after advisers turned in 164 pages of recommendations to the White House's faith-based office, thorny church-state questions remain unanswered, and some critics say the office has been u...
Quiet faith lies behind satirist’s blowhard facade
When comedian Stephen Colbert brought his act to Capitol Hill in
September and stole the spotlight with his satirical shtick, no one was...
To the battle stations
Arthur
Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has...
Doing the global-action wave
When Century
editor-at-large Bill McKibben visited the White House last month, he left disappointed. After driving...
A review of Defending Constantine
Asking me to write a review of Peter Leithart's defense of Emperor Constantine may seem like asking the fox to inspect the henhouse....
The other Duke list
If you ask socially dominant students at any major university
in the U.S., they will know a story about a young woman who has been rated for
her various "abilities" by members of a sporting team on campus. The ratings usually function semiprivately and circulate
among the men. Meanwhile, a different little scandal is brewing here at
Duke, over another set of numbers that also usually circulate semiprivately
among men.