John Buchanan

A rabbi and strong advocate for Palestinians’ rights told me this: "When you Christians start talking about divesting from Israel, it sounds to us as if you are undermining Israel’s economy and thus Israel’s existence. We close ranks."

Reynolds Price says that Hemingway yearned for “sanctity.” I’m not sure what to make of that, but Hemingway’s general yearning is clear.

Easter Sunday is glorious. But the most important Sundays come afterward, when we are left—as were Jesus' disciples—with the sense that nothing can ever be the same.

Seekers often want Christianity to be a set of ideas one knows to be true, or at least to provide a feeling of certainty.

How do we move from Jesus' core ethical mandate to the complex issues we face in the modern world?

I recall three times when the churches I served were picketed. The one that was by far the most traumatic had to do with abortion.

One of our tradition's best ideas is that God calls us to become all we were created to be. One of its worst is that only clergy are called.

After 48 years as a minister of word and sacrament, I will retire at the end of January.

In this issue Rebekah Miles describes the key role that Ursula Niebuhr played in the development of her husband's thinking and writing ("Uncredited"). The article sent me to the bookshelf for Elisabeth Sifton's fascinating account of her parents' life together.

How is it possible to read the first chapter of the Bible and not be an environmentalist?

The colonial Puritans did a lot of good things, but banning Christmas was not one of their better ideas.

I'm particularly eager for Advent this year. Per­haps it's because recent world events have been so relentlessly grim.

Over 20 years, the CEO pay multiple went up 1,000 percent. Former bank CEO William J. McDonough calls this "grotesquely immoral."

When I became a student pastor I had no idea what I was getting into. The first thing that happened after we moved into the tiny parsonage was that Johnny Johnson died.

I've been savoring Hemingway's short stories. He was a religious seeker if not some kind of believer.

Proclaiming good news ought to in some way lead to a response. Otherwise it can be an exercise in cheap grace.

It is difficult for Jews to talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's also difficult for Christians to talk about it with Jews.

Almost but not quite as wonderful as a week at the ocean with 11 grandchildren is the day they all depart, leaving us suddenly alone. Then serious reading begins.

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How we relate to the "other," ethnically, nationally, religiously, is the most important moral and theological issue of our time.

Male mainline Protestants can celebrate what we learn from our female colleagues: that our own sense of ordained ministry is unthinkable without them.