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August 2, 2017

Volume 134, Issue #16

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Features

Critical Essay

Ecclesiastes for the ecclesia

A wisdom ecclesiology embraces the church’s earthly context—but without romanticizing it.

by Amy Plantinga Pauw

Interviews

A political scientist tries to understand her state's rural residents

“The perception in small-town Wisconsin of being disadvantaged may not be accurate, but it’s not ridiculous, either.”

David Heim interviews Katherine J. Cramer

photo of novelist and pastor David Williams

Interviews

Writing about the Amish without romance

“I tried to remember that these are human beings, not caricatures.”

Elizabeth Palmer interviews David Williams

Critical Essay

The strange hope of dystopian fiction since The Road

Surviving and communing together are sacred gestures.

by Nick Ripatrazone

Books

image of Chris Hayes book on racism and criminal justice

Colonial Americans suffered under a two-tiered justice system. Later they created one.

Since before the revolution, punishment has depended on who’s being punished.

by Lillian Daniel

image of Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes book on power and politics in the Samuel narrative

Saul, David, and the morality of power

How shrewdly the drama of mixed motives, mixed loyalties, and mixed feelings unfolds.

by Walter Brueggemann

image of Albert Raboteau's book on American prophets

What does a prophet look like?

Albert Raboteau profiles seven people who shaped the theology and practice of activism in 20th-century America.

by Daniel Sack

image of David Williams's post-apocalyptic Amish novel

The postapocalyptic strength of the Amish

Who survives when technology fails?

by Valerie Weaver-Zercher

image of Lisa Dahill and James Martin-Schramm collection of eco-Reformation essays

Faith for the earth's survival

Environmental sustainability requires a Reformation-scale paradigm shift.

by Leah D. Schade

Departments

The church's history—and future—in the world's largest megacity

In the Pearl River Delta, Christianity is more than just a memory.

by Philip Jenkins

Faith Matters

Pilgrims together on St. Cuthbert's Way

Every step of my sister’s pilgrimage was a prayer, and I tried to follow in the path she made.

by Stephanie Paulsell

On Art

Icarus and Thirst, by Father Bill Moore

I love taking items from the desert or the streets of Los Angeles and incorporating them into my artwork,” writes Father Bill Moore....

by Lil Copan

First Words

What makes for an undivided life?

True character is only formed over long periods of time.

by Peter W. Marty

From the Editors

Does baking a cake count as protected speech?

Like many legal and moral disputes, the case involving a Colorado bakery and a same-sex couple hinges on finding the right analogy.

News

People

Disciples of Christ elect first woman of color to lead a mainline denomination

Teresa Hord Owens, a descendant of one of Indiana’s oldest free black settlements, is general minister and president.

by Celeste Kennel-Shank

People

Late scholar Peter Berger admitted 'big mistake' as sociologist of religion

Peter Berger, a leading scholar in the sociology of religion, died in Brookline, Massachusetts, on June 27 at age 88 of heart failure....

by Christian Century staff

Reformed churches endorse Catholic-Lutheran accord on key Reformation dispute

Amid ceremonies marking this year’s 500th anniversary of the Reformation, one of Protestantism’s leading branches has officially said it now agrees with the Vatican on the main issue at the root of its split from the Roman Catholic Church half a ...

by Tom Heneghan

Europe's Muslims grapple with touchy issue: is terrorism a community problem?

(The Christian Science Monitor) When 200 British Muslim imams declared that they would refuse to say funeral prayers for the perpetrators of the recent terrorist attack near London Bri...

by Peter Ford

Half sib? Welcome. Fiance? Not so fast. New travel ban rules decried as illogical

Grandparents, cousins, uncles, and aunts do not make the cut, but parents, siblings, half-siblings, and in-laws apparently do....

by Lauren Markoe

George Carey quits honorary role as Anglicans confront sex abuse scandal

Former archbishop of Canterbury George Carey stepped down from an honorary role after a report on child sexual abuse accused the Church of England of collusion under his leadership....

by Catherine Pepinster

Supreme Court allows parts of Trump travel ban to proceed before hearing case

(The Christian Science Monitor) The Supreme Court decided to allow President Trump to prohibit entry into the United States of some (but not all) people from the majority-Muslim countr...

by Peter Grier

People

Unitarian Universalists elect first woman president

Susan Frederick-Gray, 41, an Arizona pastor and immigrant advocate, recently became the first woman elected president of the Unitarian Universalist Association....

by Adelle M. Banks

Lectionary

August 27, Ordinary 21A (Matthew 16:13-20)

Not everyone knows who Jesus is. Do his disciples?

by Luke A. Powery

August 20, Ordinary 20A (Matthew 15:10–28; Romans 11:1–2a, 29–32)

Give me your tired, your poor, those you consider dogs.

by Luke A. Powery

Poetry

And here is a full church

by Hillary Kobernick

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