L. Gregory Jones
Speech lessons: A richer repertoire of Christian practice
Two messages arrived on the same day, each one from a talented young adult concerned about how best to use Christian language....
There's always room: Costly practices of Christian living
The Christians gathered at Duke for the weekend had come from places marked by destructive ethnic and tribal violence and conflict: South Africa, Sudan, the United States, India and Rwanda....
Teaching moments: Signs of grace
As part of a course on preaching that I took in my middler year at divinity school, I preached, and then submitted as a written text, what I thought was a good sermon....
The soulless university: Universities need to reclaim a robust attention to the authenticity of religious convictions and practice
It was a few weeks after the election, and the question came at the conclusion of a report I had made to the university trustees....
Tale of two T-shirts: More connected than critical
Mom and Dad, you won’t believe what they put on the official T-shirt we bought....
Welcome interruption: Letting the Bible question us
In a famous 1936 lecture, “The Presentation of New Testament Texts,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer proposed to the Confessing Church an alternative strategy of reading scripture....
The games we play: March Madness, otherwise known as Lent
The Delta Airlines Sky magazine asked its readers, “Are we soccer crazy?...
Betting on the truth: Pete Rose's staged confession
What gives a human being the capacity to attend to the truth, and to grow in that capacity?” My friend’s question hung in the air, dangling over the center of the table as those of us in the room f...
Traveling companions: Friendships that challenge and sustain
As I sat in a South African retreat center, I was struck by the differences between the two church leaders who were speaking....
Saint Jeanette: Forgiveness and apology
The letter was addressed to the pastor and congregation of Providence United Methodist Church. My friend George Thompson, pastor at the time, noted that each word had been carefully chosen....
Mending lives: The healing balm of friendship
Toward the end of Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a powerful novel about slavery and its aftermath, one of the characters reflects on the impact one woman had on his life: “She is a friend of my mi...
Talking with the enemy: Learning patience, developing habits
In Wendell Berry’s novel Jayber Crow, Jayber is a barber in Port William, Kentucky, who interacts with a variety of people as they come to his barbershop....
Grace notes: Rediscovering hope and goodness
It brings back goodness for me,” my friend said when, after the midnight service, I sought her out to wish her a blessed Christmas....
What we fear
Have our security measures cast out our fears? Or have they only diminished our capacity for love?
Needy pastors: Behind authoritarian leadership
"You know, Mom, the trouble with our new pastor is that he needs us to love him so much that we can’t see God anymore.” This was the assessment of a 13-year-old boy talking with his mother about th...
Take this job: Satisfactions of ministry
"Ministry a satisfying vocation.” Headlines like this one appeared in newspapers, church periodicals and elsewhere this past spring, as Duke’s (Lilly-funded) Pulpit and Pew Project reported the ini...
Imagining scripture: A rich reservoir of ancient and contemporary conversation partners
It seems to me a wonderful irony that Christians in America are preoccupied with debates about biblical authority just when all parties to the debates are less knowledgeable about the content of sc...