David Heim
Some bright spots in 2017
A year after the election, we decided to look for signs of hope. We found them all around us.
A political scientist tries to understand her state's rural residents
“The perception in small-town Wisconsin of being disadvantaged may not be accurate, but it’s not ridiculous, either.”
Peter Berger's rumors of transcendence
Berger seemed to want a liberal Protestantism with theological substance. But defining that substance was not his vocation.
A panel in Chicago on Christian theologies around the state of Israel
Ever since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948—and well before—Christians have argued about the significance of a Jewish state. Does it have theological meaning. If so, what?...
What made early Christians a peculiar people?
“One second-century pagan critic of Christianity was willing to tolerate everything else about Christians if they would only worship the gods.”
A police officer’s view from street level
“At any given moment, I may need to be a psychologist, centurion, street lawyer, or soothsayer.”
When Muslims talk to Zionists
“It’s one thing to say you support a two-state solution. It’s another thing to go to Israel and study Judaism.”
When pro-lifers were progressives
Most of us only know the pro-life movement after Roe v. Wade. But there's a fuller history—with surprising turns.
When leaders are narcissists: Psychoanalyst Michael Maccoby
"Narcissists can be inspiring. Whether they are creative or destructive depends on their philosophy."
A seminary’s calculated risk: CBTS president Molly T. Marshall
"We had to be willing to do a clear-eyed assessment of our financial situation—and to risk our old identity for the sake of a renewed mission."
The way open to other ways: Paul Knitter, Buddhist Christian
"Buddhism has not just provided the flashlight with which I have discovered what was in the Christian basement. It has also added to that basement."
Israel’s dreams and nightmares: Author Yossi Klein Halevi
"In the Middle East peace process, the peace was being negotiated by secular elites who lacked the religious language of so many of their people."
Schools engage three faiths in Israel
Four decades ago, the YMCA in Jerusalem opened a “peace preschool” that brought Arab and Jewish children into shared classrooms....
BDS: What Palestinians think
The BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) movement against Israel, which has gained some traction in mainline denominations, raises hotly contested questions. (See, for example, my article “Boycotting the boycott” and the responses to it.)
A particularly salient one: Do ordinary Palestinians support BDS? Do Palestinians in the occupied territory want more separation from Israel or more integration with it?
Boycotting the boycott: The problem with the BDS movement
The BDS movement posits that a just future for the Palestinians lies first of all in disengagement from and resistance to Israel. But does it?
A Christian redoubt?
With Christians in Iraq and Syria on the brink of destruction, Walter Russell Mead wonders if Christians in the West will do more than wring their hands.
He says we can either help Christians in the Middle East flee persecution and start new lives elsewhere, or we can help them “fort up”—create “redoubts,” or enclaves that they can defend by force.
In Bonhoeffer’s company: Biographer Charles Marsh
"Bonhoeffer came to embody some of the contradictions modernity imposed on the faith. I could happily spend the rest of my life sorting through this."
On the Century's relationship with James Wall
James Wall is listed on the Christian Century masthead as a “contributing editor” along with other former editors and staff members....