Latest Articles
Prodigal Nation: Moral Decline and Divine Punishment from New England to 9/11
Michelangelo and Rembrandt depicted him bearded and robed, seated and downcast, absorbed with inexpr...
Pens and Swords: How the American Mainstream Media Report the Israel-Palestinian Conflict
At the height of the second Palestinian intifada, Richard Griffiths, the editorial dire...
No Enemy to Conquer: Forgiveness in an Unforgiving World
It is often assumed that forgiveness is impossible in the face of extraordinary evil....
Goodbye Solo
An old Senegalese proverb says, “An elder who dies is like a library that burns.” This belief is at the heart of the small but moving independent film Goodbye Solo, directed and co-written b...
Why are you looking up?
We are in the interim between Easter and Pentecost. Of course, we live in an interim in other ways: we anticipate graduations, new jobs, the resolution of dilemmas....
In the Spirit's way
The reading from Acts offers a foretaste of Pentecost, only two weeks away....
Postlude: In memory of a pastoral colleague
There is not much applauding in the church I serve, and that’s all right with me. When applauding in church becomes routine, it loses any meaning....
Stimulus package: Buy books
If the economic recession has made people more receptive to spiritual concerns and theological insights, that interest has not translated into sales of religion books (see ...
Century Marks
Theology for buffaloes: Donald Shriver Jr. recalls when a publisher sent the library at Union Theological Seminary in New York a copy of Kosuke Koyama’s ground-breaking book Water Buffalo Theology. “The book landed on a discard shelf outside the library door," says Shriver. Soon afterward, Union named the book's author its professor of world Christianity. Koyama died last month at age 79 (ENI).
Entry points: Church as a hosting community
If it is a little difficult to find your way into Holy Nativity Episcopal Church in the Westchester neighborhood of Los Angeles, it isn’t because there are too few doors, but because there are so m...
Balancing the books: Hard times in religion publishing
Conventional wisdom holds that when times get bad, people turn to religion. But that’s not the case in religion publishing....
Briefly noted
Lutherans, Jews, Muslims and others seeking to cling to their faith in a time of tragedy came together for a prayer vigil April 4 at Redeemer Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Binghamton, New York....
NAE leader steps softly into immigration debate: Leith Anderson supports immigration reform
The president of the National Association of Evangelicals has taken a rare step into the immigration debate, saying that the long waiting period for citizenship must be shortened and that other ref...
Vermont is fourth state to approve gay marriage: Also first to allow same-sex civil unions
Nine years after becoming the first state to allow same-sex civil unions, Vermont has become the first state to approve same-sex marriage without a court order....
Priest professing Islam deposed by Episcopalians: Ann Holmes Redding
An Episcopal priest who professed two years ago that she was also a practicing Muslim has been defrocked by the Episcopal Church....
Japanese theologian Kosuke Koyama: Theology rooted in the experiences of ordinary people
Kosuke Koyama, a Japanese Christian theologian who was a proponent of contextual theologies rooted in the experiences of ordinary people, is being lauded for his far-sighted commitment to religious...
Letters indicate church knew of abuse in 1950s: Servants of the Paraclete founder warned church leaders
A Catholic priest who specialized in treating sexually abusive priests strongly advised church leaders—including Pope Paul VI—that abusers should be defrocked and possibly exiled to a Caribbean isl...
White House releases final faith-based panel names: A diverse council
President Obama has named nine new advisers to the White House office for religious and community groups, adding a gay rights leader, an Orthodox Jew, a black Pentecostal bishop and others to an ec...
Presbyterians, Lutherans cut jobs, reduce budgets: Slumping stock portfolios; declines in donations
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America both have slashed their 2009 budgets, cutting programs and laying off scores of personnel as denominations continue t...