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Deep and wide
It is by living and dying that one becomes a theologian, Martin Luther said....
Universal need: 1 Kings 17:8-24; Luke 7:11-17
As we struggle to stay alert to the constant demands of the needy, we pastors sometimes forget that we take for granted others in our congregations who seem strong and whole....
Tough questions
The widow surrenders to the inevitability of her own starvation. Elijah acknowledges this and doesn’t try to talk her out of it.
Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Responses to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats
A funeral is a curious phenomenon....
The Eclipse
The modest Irish picture The Eclipse has slipped below almost everyone’s radar; it’s moving quietly across the country in brief art-house engagements....
Among the misfits
If Jesus and his improbable band of followers loitered in the town square today or showed up at church, what reception would they receiv...
God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter
The tradition known as the perennial philosophy has long argued that all of th...
Whither Democratic faith outreach?
In the 2004 election, the Democrats dropped the ball on outreach to
faith-based voters. In 2006 and 2008 they did better, one of many things...
Suffering and beyond
In my Living By the Word column on this week’s readings, I comment on Paul’s readiness to boast of suffering, because it “...
Century Marks
Boundary crossing: Century senior editor Richard Kauffman traveled to Iran in 2008 and talked to a range of Iranians—from government officials to university professors to Muslim seminarians to people in the street. Moved by their stories, he felt compelled to tell them for a wider audience. His just-released book, An American in Persia (Cascadia), is about people moving across cultural and religious barriers to enter each other’s worlds.
Sub-SaharanAfrica is world’s “most religious” area: Islam and Christianity dominate
Researchers say they’ve found the most religious place on Earth. It’s between the southern border of the Sahara Desert and the tip of South Africa....
Rites of spring ring in ‘Church ofBaseball’ Sermon on the Mound: Sermon on the Mound
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren stood on the mound at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, on Easter Sunday and delivered his pitch....
Obama shifts tactics on Muslim outreach: Changes greeted with hope and skepticism
Nearly a year after President Obama told an audience in Cairo that America wanted a “new beginning” with the Muslim world, evidence of that policy shift has, in recent months, become hard to ignore...
Abuse scandal puts victims’ group back in the spotlight: Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
The drumbeat of news about clergy sexual abuse began in Ireland last year. This year, the stories spread—to Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Norway. The drumbeat got louder....
Appeal planned after NationalDay of Prayer is ruled unconstitutional: Justice Department says it will challenge decision
As Representative Randy Forbes (R., Va.) sees it, the decision by a Wis consin federal judge that the law creating a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional is little more than one person’s opin...
Seminaries see no ‘hard times’ uptick: Enrollment slipping
The notion that enrollments at theological schools rise in tough economic times did not hold true for Protestant and Catholic seminaries in North America this academic year....