Lauren F. Winner
Divine contractions: Gods labor, our deliverance
Isaiah doesn't politely, abstractly compare God to a mother giving birth. The text suggests that God squats and pants and bellows like a moose.
Founding the Fathers, by Elizabeth A. Clark
In this deeply researched and illuminating monograph, Elizabeth Clark examines the development of early church history as an academic field in the U.S.
My Lenten fast: Giving up anxiety
I worry about avian flu. I worry that my identity is being stolen right this second. I check four times to make sure I turned the stove off. It's breathless, compulsive behavior.
Naked Spirituality, by Brian D. McLaren
The architecture of Naked Spirituality is a bit complicated. But if you can bear with it, you'll find that Brian McLaren offers countless insights.
Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr
Richard Rohr has written his most sage, most important book yet. Its message is straightforward and bracing: the spiritual life is not static.
The Long Goodbye, by Meghan O’Rourke
The Long Goodbye is poet Meghan O'Rourke's account of her mother's colorectal cancer and the year of mourning that followed her death....
Dislocated exegesis: Reading the Bible in unexpected places
Reading scripture in
unexpected places can unsettle the reading you were
likely to bring to the text. So once a week I
read a short biblical passage in some place other than my home or office.
Christmas and the cross: Luke 2:22-40
Simeon offers a subtle instruction to Mary: remember the cross.
Interrupted: Luke 1:26-38; 47-55
Whether Mary was reading or spinning or planning her wedding, the annunciation came as an interruption.
After divorce
Elizabeth Marquardt’s book sat on my shelf for many weeks. I really wanted to read it....
Camping out: Celebration of sukkot
Wander through a Jewish neighborhood or past a synagogue in late October and you will see a hut (often referred to as a booth). It will probably be less than 30 feet tall and made of plywood, with three walls. It will be decorated with leaves, gourds and bunches of grapes, possibly strung with lights. The roof will be translucent (you can see at least a few stars if you stand in the hut at night). There’s sure to be a picnic table or a card table set up inside. The hut will be a little flimsy; it might sway if the wind gets too vigorous. It will, to the uninitiated, look strange. The hut, called a sukkah in Hebrew, is a sign that the eight-day festival of Sukkot has arrived.
American heresies
It is not a new question, but it is one that presses in on us with ever greater urgency: what ...
Giving up reading: A Lenten discipline
The Monday after Easter, Hannah and Jim threw a party. We’d been instructed to bring our contraband—whatever we gave up for Lent: Beer. Chocolate. Something caffeinated....
Gen X revisited: A return to tradition?
A statistic: only about 30 percent of people born between 1964 and 1978— that is, 30 percent of so-called Gen Xers—belong to a church....
Worship by generations
Willow Creek Community Church, originator of the famous “seeker service” model of outreach, has been fabulously successful at wooing members of the baby-boom generation....
Taking the plunge: Marriage conversations
When I first told friends that David and I were having serious marriage conversations, I expected smiles and congratulations. Instead I observed raised eyebrows and puzzled frowns.
...Praise at Celebration: Churchgoing in Disney’s town
When most Americans think of small towns, say Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins, they think of churches: “Each of us carries a mental map of the perfect small town....
Generation J, by Lisa Schiffman
Lisa Schiffman's spiritual quest culminates in a tattoo, inked into her shoulder blade, of a leafy vine running through a Star of David....