The surprising freedom of being a guest preacher
I might or might not be invited back. Either way, there’s no lasting harm.
Finding God outside the church walls
The Spirit is God’s wild card, played over and over again when old forms fail.
My holy envy of other faith traditions
How my attraction to other religions deepened my love of my own
What book would you describe as beautiful?
10 writers respond.
Gregory Ellison II, Michelle Alexander, and Matthew Desmond share a red vinyl booth
Who I'd invite to my writers' dinner party
Buddhists next door
Here in rural Georgia, it's hard to miss a monk in saffron robes walking through Wal-Mart. But we don't know what to think about him, so we don't.
Light without sight
Seeing has fooled me into thinking I have a clear view of where the road leads.
Surrender to fiction: Fall books: Reading habits
I would love to tell you that I read psalms every morning, poetry every noon, theology every afternoon and prize-winning fiction every night....
Redeeming darkness
Darkness does not come from a different place than light; it is not presided over by a different God.
Biblical mystery tour
Surely there are ten or 12 people a day who would sign up for a Jerusalem tour designed to deepen their questions instead of answering them.
And Jesus sang
After Jesus shared his last supper with his friends, they sang a hymn together. There is every reason to believe it was the Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118. How have I missed this before?
The Muslim Jesus
We could not get to Jesus without going through the origins of the two faiths that share him. Christianity and Islam disagree, but they disagree about the same Jesus.
Pain by number
Pain is so attention-getting that it can put you on a planet all by yourself, where your face is the only face you see above the number that best describes your hurt.
Before computers: How we spent our time
Over the past year I have been speaking with different groups about biblical narrative in the age of Twitter....
Working people: To serve with gladness
When Studs Terkel, described by Donna Seaman as “oral historian, writer of conscience and raconteur-on-a-mission,” died on Halloween in 2008, he left a tall stack of books behind him....
Our bodies, our faith: Practicing incarnation
Deep suffering makes theologians of us all. The questions people ask about God in Sunday school rarely compare with the questions we ask while we are in the hospital. This goes for those stuck in the waiting room as well as those in the hospital beds. To love someone who is suffering is to learn the visceral definition of pathetic: affecting or exciting emotion, especially the tender emotions, as pity or sorrow; so inadequate as to be laughable or contemptible. To spend one night in real pain is to discover depths of reality that are roped off while everything is going fine.