Latest Articles
Dying of words
I’ve noticed an alarming trend in ministry with college students: they use words better in technological media than in person....
Crossing the aisle: The most profound change
Part of the success of Mike Huckabee’s and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns has been their promise of transcending partisan politics....
Century Marks
Done got Jesus: Baylor University professor Ralph C. Wood, who grew up in east Texas, says that when he was a college student, a Baptist evangelist, after learning that Wood was an English major, asked, “Why do you need Shakespeare and them boys when you done got Jesus?” Wood says he is still trying to come up with an appropriate answer some 40 years later. (Perspectives in Religious Studies, Winter).
Constraints and opportunities: Nick Carter on retooling seminaries
Andover Newton Theological School, which is celebrating its 200th anniversary, is regarded as the country’s oldest free-standing graduate school of theology....
Focus on ministry: Harvard revamps its M.Div. program
The first class to start and finish Harvard Divinity School’s revised M.Div....
Pope says church courts too lax with annulments: U.S. church worst culprit
Pope Benedict XVI has called for greater consistency in the granting of annulments, suggesting that Catholic church authorities in some countries have been too lax in declaring marriages void....
Benedict and Kobia pray together in Rome for Christian unity: At Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
In an ecumenical first, a general secretary of the World Council of Churches took part with the pope in a Rome service to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an observance that began 100 y...
Churches pinched by health care costs: Health care may soon eat up missions dollars
Unlike many other pastors in the Church of the Brethren, Kendal W. Elmore stuck with his denomination’s medical insurance plan for 34 years, even as premiums escalated....
Both sides celebrate decline in abortions: Guttmacher results on Roe anniversary
As abortion-rights supporters and opponents last month marked the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized the procedure nationwide, new statistics showed that fewer women are ...
Monson poised, prepared as new Mormon leader: Predecessor has died at age 97
Thomas S. Monson, tapped to succeed Gordon B. Hinckley as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has spent his entire career in the service of the LDS church....
Pastor dismissals in SBC mostly over 'control' Forced terminations have dropped: Forced terminations have dropped
The number of forced terminations of pastors and church staff in Southern Baptist congregations has dropped....
Survey shows that pastoral posts still attract and satisfy: Low attrition
Recent surveys have indicated that clergy are generally quite satisfied with their profession....
Gore takes climate credo to fellow Baptists: At Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant
Christians who speak out for environmentalism can combat skepticism and end America’s addiction to carbon fuels, Al Gore told 2,000 Baptists who gathered to hear him during a three-day celebration ...
Moderate Baptists test unity in diversity: Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant
At a gathering in Atlanta of Baptists trying to mend fences and join hands, there was preaching by blacks and whites, scripture readings by women and men, and music by African-American and Hispanic...
Call waiting: A journey to ordination
As I was growing up, the church was my one constant in a changing world....
Bridging the gap: The Th.D.
A Ph.D. student in religion veered off from his friends one morning to head toward the divinity school chapel. “Where are you going?” one of his colleagues asked....
When the well runs dry: Scarcity evokes community
There were 15 people in my house when the well ran dry. It was Thanksgiving, and everyone knew that they did not have to flush every time. Those who were spending the night had learned how to take navy showers: turn the water on long enough to get wet, turn it off, soap yourself, turn the water on long enough to rinse, and turn it off again. If the water ever gets really nice and hot, then you know that you have left it on too long.Everyone knew this, but we still ran out of water. When I turned the kitchen tap to fill the coffee pot after Thanksgiving dinner, all that came out was a long airy gasp. “We’re out of water!” I yelled.
Film favorites of '07: Lars tops the list
By the time the credits began to roll for Lars and the Real Girl, the movie was at the head of my list of top movies of 2007....