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A critic once called Clyde Edgerton the "love child of Dave Barry and Flannery O'Connor"—a reflection of the fact that his novels are both dark and funny.

Security and risk are nothing new. Today's biblical texts deal not with stocks and bonds exactly, but with living in the real circumstances of a difficult and uncertain world while also accepting the possibility of good, of help and support, comfort and security.

America's propensity to see ourselves as God's new chosen nation has often led us to claim scripture...

I used to think my grandfather had a strange affliction. He not only read the obituaries, but he kept a log of the deaths of relatives,...

Americans do a good job of helping people in need directly, as we should. But there is another way to help people in need: citizen activism.

Berlin (RNS) A German congregation founded by the Florida preacher who has sparked global controversy with plans to burn Qurans on 9/11 says it has had nothing to do with the preacher since 2008, d...

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Wednesday (Sept. 8) joined Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other high-level U.S....

Lee Kravitz loved his job as editor in chief of Parade magazine. But like his ancestors before him, he was a workaholic. Most of the men...

Outrage is pouring in from all sides — as it should. Terry Jones is the kind of ”pastor” who gives clergy a bad...

Too much writing about the arts and Christianity is apologetic, explaining why the church should be concerned about artistic expression. Within that category is a lot of writing that voices high-minded generalities about "good art" and "bad art" and about who should and should not be making art.

I used to sit on the front porch with my grandmother, otherwise the gentlest, most unconditionally loving person in my young life, while she regaled me with stories about what was going on under the dome of the Roman Catholic cathedral one block away. They're storing guns in the basement, Grandma assured me, and I imagined that the windows in the dome were gunports through which "they" planned to fire on the rest of the city.

Pain is so attention-getting that it can put you on a planet all by yourself, where your face is the only face you see above the number that best describes your hurt.

How does a church choose a bank? Typically we look for the best deal and then pat ourselves on the back for our good stewardship, as if stewardship had to do simply with saving money rather than with putting it to good use.

WASHINGTON (RNS) Three dozen faith leaders Tuesday (Sept. 7) issued a declaration denouncing anti-Muslim bigotry as the nation prepares to...

(RNS) For this year's Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that concludes the holy month of Ramadan, Nakia Jackson received an unusual present from a Jewish friend: cab fare....

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The history of Christian denominations is pockmarked by centuries of doctrinal disputes and stormy schisms....

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Leonard Bern­stein was there to celebrate with Beet­hoven's Ninth Symphony. The great chorus did not voice the familiar "Freude, Freude" ("joy, joy") but instead sang "Freiheit, Freiheit" ("freedom, freedom"). That simple, direct, unambiguous mo­ment, however, is not the norm for thinking about freedom.

My ancestors wanted to own land and prosper on it, to see their children and their children's children thrive. They knew that they were loved by a God who does not see national boundaries.

A recent cover of Time magazine asked: “Is America Islamophobic?” A Time survey discovered equivocal evidence on the question.

Bruce’s dog intruded on the Easter sunrise service. It had caught a bunny, of all things, and choked while attempting to eat it. This little reminder of nature red in tooth and claw marred the morning’s tranquility. The God emptying the borrowed grave in order to bring life and immortality to light seemed complicit in the routine reality of a dog-eat-bunny creation.