Richard A. Kauffman

If you're like me, you have a list of books in your head or on scraps of paper that you think you should read sometime....

In 1831-32 two
young Frenchmen, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont, traveled
through the United States, ostensibly to study the prison system on behalf of
...

Every few years a fringe Christian leader
or group predicts when Jesus Christ is coming back to earth. The latest date,
...

The tragic shooting in Arizona has become a cultural Rorschach
test. People see what they want to see about what's wrong with our culture, who
...

I appreciate when other people recommend
favorite CDs. In that spirit, I share with you some of my favorite Christmas
...

When radio stations started playing Henryk Górecki's Sym­phony no....

When my congregation intones the Lord's Prayer, everyone seems
to use a cellar voice. We sound like a bass section, women and children
included.

When I sit in church on Sunday mornings, I sometimes look
around at the other congregants and ask myself, "Why are these people here? Why
...

I used to think my grandfather had a strange affliction. He not only
read the obituaries, but he kept a log of the deaths of relatives,
...

Lee Kravitz loved his job as editor in chief of Parade magazine.
But like his ancestors before him, he was a workaholic. Most of the men
...

The challenge of telling other people’s stories is an occupational hazard for journalists, historians, memoirists, conflict mediators and even preachers....

In 1892 Agnes and Margaret Smith, identical twin sisters from Scot land, took a nine-day camel ride t...

In the fourth meeting between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and religious leaders seeking to keep lines of communication open between Iran and the U.S.—the second such meeting I’ve attended...

Greg Mortenson grew up in Tanganyika, now Tanzania, the son of Lutheran missionaries....

Early in my visit to Iran I was introduced to Nesa, 24, who was eager for contact with Americans....

The theme of the World Council of Churches Ninth Assembly, held last month in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was the prayer, “God, in your grace, transform the world.” A recurrent question for many observer...

Leaders of the U.S....

Books on spirituality abound, and the publication of new ones seems not to abate. Writings in this genre often focus on experience and practical disciplines of spirituality....