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April 12, 2017

Volume 134, Issue #8

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Features

First Person

For those of you just tuning in

Why baseball is best on the radio

by Brian Doyle

Take this $500 and do good in the world

When our church received a windfall, we tried an experiment.

by Laura Sumner Truax and Amalya Campbell

First Person

My incarcerated nephew, the guest of honor

Our family reunion in Argentina looked like something straight out of one of Jesus’ parables.

by Heidi Neumark

Critical Essay

The plain, difficult sense of scripture

Calvin argued for the self-evident clarity of the Bible—the same Bible he wrote thousands of pages about.

by Mark Labberton

Interviews

What made early Christians a peculiar people?

“One second-century pagan critic of Christianity was willing to tolerate everything else about Christians if they would only worship the gods.”

David Heim interviews Larry W. Hurtado

First Person

My friends are praying for me. Does God care?

God’s response to Job is cold comfort when you have terminal cancer.

by Jeffrey Weiss

First Person

Prayer isn’t our work, it’s God’s

I mostly agree with Jeffrey Weiss about prayer. I think St. Paul would too.

by Jason Micheli

Books

How spiritual practices can foster creativity

The most useful essays in this new collection are the ones that tell stories from parish ministry.

by Rob Muthiah

A novel for frightening times

Han Kang’s main theme is the dignity and the cowardice that atrocity brings forth from people—often the same person.

by Phil Christman

Reading evangelical history with one eye closed

Frances FitzGerald gets the religious right wrong—along with the evangelical tradition generally.

by Randall Balmer

Are open borders the most ethical approach to immigration?

David Miller’s book doesn’t offer policy solutions. It does help us think clearly.

by Richard J. Hoskins

Departments

Faith Matters

Life together as an empire collapses

If Benedict’s Rule is a text of resistance, what does it help us resist?

by Stephanie Paulsell

French Catholics' political awakening

In a nation legendary for its secularism, les Cathos are speaking up.

by Philip Jenkins

First Words

Prayer without answers

The main purpose of prayer is to enjoy God.

by Peter W. Marty

Screen Time

White moral infantilism and some help avoiding it

Several recent films and shows portray people of color with a complexity that James Baldwin once assumed was impossible for pop culture.

by Kathryn Reklis

From the Editors

Does school choice create better choices?

We've had decades of experiments with charter schools and vouchers. There are no resounding success stories.

On Art

Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline, by Ndume Olatushani

During Lent, an exhibit of the Stations of the Cross in Washington, D.C., invites pilgrims to keep vigil....

Art selection and comment by Lil Copan

News

People

Muslim cleric to lead national association of chaplains in higher ed

An imam, Adeel Zeb, will lead the National Association of College and University Chaplains....

by Celeste Kennel-Shank

Conservative synagogues can now officially accept non-Jews as members

Although some Conservative synagogues have already welcomed non-Jews as members, the body that governs America’s second-largest stream of Judaism has now officially sanctioned the practice....

by Lauren Markoe

Nonprofit offers Talmud in English online for free

For some, the notion of delving into the Talmud in English for free with the click of a mouse was something they could only dream of. Now that dream is becoming a reality....

by Michele Chabin

Turkey’s president builds an Islamic nationalism while amassing power

(The Christian Science Monitor) The builder-handyman and his fiancée, a cleaner, work for a small Istanbul company that has been going through tough times....

by Scott Peterson

Canadian Muslims face ‘constant questioning’ of whether they fit in society

(The Christian Science Monitor) Danyaal Raza, a family physician, was honored last year at the first-ever awards ceremony reserved for Muslim Canadians for his work in promoting bet...

by Anita Elash

People

Baptist ethicist and commentator dies at age 63

Baptist ethicist Robert Parham, the founder of the Baptist Center for Ethics and a critic of the conservative resurgence in the Southern Baptist Convention, died March 5....

by Adelle M. Banks

People