Latest Articles
'Too many mosques' remark draws fire to Giuliani campaign: Comment by top Giuliani homeland security adviser
Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has rejected calls to fire one of his top homeland security advisers, Representative Peter King, after the Long Island Republican said there are “too many mosqu...
Prison bureau relents on purging books, will return most religion texts: Bureau was "swatting a fly with a sledgehammer"
Yielding to pressure from religious leaders and members of Congress, the federal Bureau of Prisons has ended a purge at prison libraries of “nonapproved” religious books and materials....
Insurer rejects church because of 'risk' of its gay stance: Brotherhood Mutual turns down business
A United Church of Christ congregation’s pro-gay stance puts it “at a higher risk” of litigation and property damage, a leading U.S....
New 'ex-gay' study lauded by right but faulted on methods: Assessment of "reparative therapy"
A new study suggesting that religiously motivated conversion from homosexual orientation is possible and not harmful has been hailed by social conservatives, but others are questioning the study’s ...
Pentagon closes book on Muslim chaplain: Captain James Yee
The Pentagon’s inspector general has concluded a review of the case of a former Muslim chaplain who was detained and later cleared of espionage charges, saying the Department of Defense acted prope...
Rex Humbard, pioneer TV evangelist, dies: Cathedral of Tomorrow preacher
Rex Humbard, an early and successful televangelist, whose Cathedral of Tomorrow services were carried by as many as 2,000 stations in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, died September 21 in a South...
Briefly noted
New Jersey state officials have revoked the tax-exempt status of a Methodist-run seaside pavilion that church officials have said is off-limits to gay and lesbian civil union services....
Puddle hopping: A labyrinth alternative
Some friends of mine are avid labyrinth walkers and have recommended the practice to me. But though I’ve long admired the floor of Chartres Cathedral—and once had the pleasure of seeing my children race around it at top speed before they climbed the tower and searched the high vaults for bats—I’ve never been on a formal retreat involving labyrinths. Perhaps that’s because I’m more familiar with informal collapses than with formal retreats. Fortunately an economic alternative has suggested itself: puddle hopping.
Bagged for Jesus: The economy of salvation
"The economy of salvation” is an ancient phrase used by everyone from the Eastern Orthodox theologians of old to pioneer Pentecostal preacher Phoebe Palmer to thinkers across the Christian spectrum...
One-upmanship: Luke 18:9-14
"I’m bigger than you are!” Here comes the playground taunt and its implied claim for absolute superiority....
Maryland high court nixes gay marriage: A close decision
Maryland’s highest court has delivered the latest blow to supporters of same-sex marriage rights, narrowly ruling that the Maryland Constitution does not confer upon gays the right to marry each ot...
House calls: Luke 19:1-10
Not long ago the local newspaper carried a story about a young couple traveling to visit relatives in a neighboring state....
Take and read
Laments over the current state of academic biblical study abound, but Bockmuehl moves beyond his penetrating critique of the disci...
Take and read
The splendid Cambridge History of Christianity rolls on with this wide-ranging and authoritative treatment o...
Books to argue with
Sometimes it’s the books we disagree with that make the biggest impact on us: we find ourselves locked in argument with the author or continually returning to the book because its flaws h...
The Children of Húrin
In his iconoclastic Autobiography (1883), Anthony Trollope recalled speculating, during a sea voyage to Australia, about the fate of his unpub...
The Maytrees: A Novel
In the final installment (For the Time Being, 1999) of her wide-ranging trilogy that started in 1974 with Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dilla...