John Buchanan

Trudy Bush’s review of two important books on American Muslim women makes reference to Islamic dress....

For the past few years the religion department at the Chautauqua Institution near Buffalo has sponsored a program for new clergy and their families....

High on the list of people I have most admired is Mstislav Rostropovich, the great Russian cellist who died in April. I admired him first for his courage....

Illinois claims Abraham Lincoln as a native son, because even though he was not born in the state, he settled in Springfield, which is where he practiced law, entered politics, married and raised h...

It is instructive and ultimately very encouraging for an American churchperson to get a glimpse of the global Christian enterprise....

Sometimes life in a big city can feel impersonal, almost inhuman. On the streets the taxis vie for pole position at the stoplights and cut one another off to get to a fare....

Every now and then I read a book for the simple reason that everyone else is reading it....

Tom Long, one of the preachers I’m tempted to steal from, points out in this issue that stealing sermons is an old phenomenon but...

Some ideas are bigger than our intellectual capacity to deal with them. Some news is richer than the words we have to describe it....

Palm Sunday is a big deal in the church I serve....

I am never quite sure what postmodernity is, but I was struck by Pamela Fickenscher’s delightful essay on postmodern ministry (Off-ro...

As this issue of the magazine was being prepared, the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform was holding a hearing on the way the Bush administration has treated the issue of climate ...

Jason Byassee’s article on Christians in Jordan reminded me of some conversations I had early in my ministry with a fellow pastor...

During the height of the Vietnam War, Bill Moyers was President Lyndon Johnson’s press secretary....

The excerpt from Wendell Berry’s latest book was for me a Christmas gift to savor. It stirred memories and reflections about grandfathers....

I am probably not the only preacher who cringes every Good Friday as I read John’s passion narrative, with its relentless negative references to “the Jews.” As I read those passages I think of my f...

My neighborhood offers Christmas shoppers lots of help: the counters are full, and the windows have been elegantly displaying gift suggestions since mid-October....

It’s my favorite time of year—though I never heard the word Advent until my mother brought home an Advent calendar one year....

I was fascinated to learn that New Testament scholar Barbara Rossing was first drawn to studying the book of Revelation because of he...

It is conventional wisdom that ministers hate stewardship season and dislike talking about money....