Latest Articles
Riverside tensions akin to progressive angst? Changing of the liberal guard: Changing of the liberal guard
When Brad Braxton was tapped last year as the next senior pastor of Riverside Church, he was billed as an energetic and dynamic preacher with the power to reinvigorate the flagship pulpit of progre...
Regretfully yours: Leaving perfection to God
My wife, a teacher of philosophy at a Catholic university, likes to begin introductory ethics courses with a hypothetical question....
Seedtime and harvest: Nothing is independent
I hold three mottled white-and-burgundy beans in the palm my hand....
Nations at risk: Fertile ground for persecution
It’s the world’s least desirable club: the league of failed and failing states. Every year, the Fund for Peace presents its list of the world’s shakiest political entities....
Revitalized Jesus Seminar gets new home: Rent-free space at Williamette University
The Jesus Seminar began making headlines in 1986 as more than 70 biblical scholars voted on which sayings attributed to Jesus in the Gospels probably derived from him and what words were more likel...
Let go: James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38
When I was a kid, my brother and I loved playing with toy dinosaurs. I’d let my brother take the ever-popular T. Rex while I went for the stegosaurus....
Economics for disciples: An alternative investment plan
When Jim Douglass graduated from college, his father sent him a life insurance policy. Jim thanked his father but returned the policy. He could not accept the gift, he said, because he wanted to understand the truth of an “economics of providence” that he had read about in Matthew 6. Rather than pay premiums on a life insurance policy, Jim said he would store up treasure in heaven by sending a monthly payment to provide basic care for a little girl in France. I’m convinced that Jim is right.
Scoop up a child: Mark 9:30-37
In Mark’s Gospel the antidote for a fixation on power is a little child. In chapter nine, Jesus again shares news of his pending passion with his disciples....
Jesus Christ the apple tree
I recently purchased the 1800s' homestead where I’ve lived for the past five years, and I’m busy renovating the house and outbuildings....
Obama's shocking speech to schoolchildren
President Obama spoke to students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia today, and his ...
Nature's Second Chance: Restoring the Ecology of Stone Prairie Farm
When the land for my suburban Chicago subdivision was bulldozed in the late 1960s, the topsoil was scraped off...
Public Enemies
Halfway through Michael Mann’s Public Enemies, about the time I should have been engrossed in the tommy-guns-a-blazin’ battle between bad guy John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and good guy Melvin...
Forgiveness: Following Jesus into Radical Loving
Paula Huston is a straightforward and gentle teacher of the spiritual life....
Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America
Few books have had sufficiently potent content to carry them into the hands of readers and imaginations of writers for generati...
God is partial
This little scene in which James takes us into a worship service for a lesson on favoritism is perhaps the epistle’s best-known passage....
Everyday notes: The familiar essay
A few years ago I was given a book of Anne Fadiman’s essays, Ex Libris, and was smitten....