Debra Bendis
Billions for family planning
While Americans debate contraception coverage, women elsewhere in the world are dying in childbirth (pregnancy is the biggest killer of teenage girls worldwide), despairing because they ...
Lucas Cranach, partner in reform
Last spring I visited the Paris exhibition Cranach in His Time, where I was introduced to a sampling of Lucas Cranach Sr.’s diverse and sometimes puzzling range of work. Cranach (1472–1553) produced more than 1,500 paintings, not to mention engravings, decorative work and altarpieces.
I began my tour with his portrait of the powerful and shrewd Frederick the Wise, who was Saxon’s ruling elector, Cranach’s patron and Luther’s protector. A little further on I studied a portrait of Luther, Cranach’s friend and partner, painted as a nonthreatening monk—an effort to persuade his critics that he was not dangerous.
Virtually dependent
Terry Castle is concerned about students' constant contact with parents. I’m more interested in how they relate face to face.
Old Testament drama
My church's adult Sunday school class ended up doing a six-week study of one of John Ortberg’s inspirational and easy-to-read books. A member of the class loved the book and wanted to share and teach it—and who can argue with six weeks off as a teacher?
Before that, we’d been through many of N.T. Wright’s “For Everyone” study guides, and we'd organized a successful unit on Islam and Christianity, taught well by an instructor from our county college. We’ve read Adam Hamilton; we've added online conversation to our Lenten study. Now what?
Preach it, Chef Kimball
When the latest issue of Cook’s Illustrated comes through the door at my house, I know better than to grab it. First dibs go to my husband....
Fighting fracking
Sandra Steingraber, ecologist, activist and author, was in Joliet, Illinois, Wednesday to present a lecture on our era of “extreme energy extraction.” (See the Century interview with Steingraber.) According to Steingraber, we’re acting more and more foolishly as we hold on more and more tightly to our dependence on fossil fuels.
Monastic community on a trial basis
Must we lose monastic communities before we realize how profound their presence is in our lives?
Virtual nonkilling spree
In
a blog post at the Wall
Street Journal, Conor
Dougherty describes a video game behavior that demonstrates what Century
writer Scott
Paeth calls "a distaste for playing evil."
According to Dougherty, gamers are finding ways to take some of the most
violent games and tweak characters or characters' behavior so that they
participate in the game with one notable difference--they don't kill.
Bob DeMarco lays down his life
DeMarco experienced a lot of life before he came to care for his mother, and he will likely experience more when his time as caregiver ends. Yet I think of John 15:13.
Let’s talk about toxins
It's time for the talk, says Sandra Steingraber: the talk about the pollutants that are
infiltrating our lives and threatening the health of all of us,
especially our children.
Advent and retreat
I found myself
staring at the wall. I'd done two- and three-day retreats, but this was four
days alone in a cottage, and the stretch of time was unnerving. I had to go
...
Stories of hardship
Ron
Rash writes stories that have as much impact as any I've read; those in this
collection often left me feeling as if I'd been kicked. Rash lives in and writes
...
Kim Lawton talks to clergy and seminarians at Occupy Wall Street
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly's latest stories include an overview of the religious presence at the Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccotti
Park in New York.
The Greater Journey, by David McCullough
In the 1830s most Americans were finding plenty of adventure in their own country. It was just over 50 years old, after all....
Raising questions in Philadelphia
"Occupy Wall Street may not come up with solutions, but at least it is asking the right questions in a nonviolent setting," says Shane Claiborne. "I don't believe that love can be forced, but I believe it can be provoked."
Martin Sheen's faith vehicle
When I walked into a
screening of The Way, which opens today, I knew very little about the film; only that it
stars Martin Sheen and is directed by his son, Emilio Estevez, and that it
involves pilgrims hiking El Camino de Santiago, a
450-mile historical pilgrimage route across northern Spain.
Van Gogh's dark night
The world will
always be fascinated with Vincent van Gogh. It doesn't matter that his
sunflowers are on mugs, t-shirts, calendars and billboards, or that
...
Kristof's lively commenters
Nicholas Kristof, who says of
himself, "I'm not particularly religious," nevertheless took time out from his
vacation to lift
up the life of evangelical great John Stott.
Summer reading list
The Chatelet Apprentice, by Jean-François Parot.
I've been re-invigorating my French with the mystery novels of French diplomat Jean-François Parot.
(Several titles are available in English.) As police commissioner Nicolas Le
Floch works to solves crimes in 18th-century Paris, author Parot expands the plot
with descriptions of the era's culture, political intrigues and haute cuisine.
Rembrandt on Jesus
Traveling to Paris or
Philadelphia this summer, or Detroit this fall? You may want to consider taking
in the exhibit on "Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus."