Features
Why did the Museum of the Bible’s scholars destroy ancient Egyptian artifacts?
How dancing in The Nutcracker has shaped my sense of Advent
Mary's joy is for everyone
Methodists weigh options for staying united
Books
The fall and rise of Holy Russia
Since the Soviet collapse, Christianity has flourished. This poses its own challenges.
The cool piety of young Muslim hip-hop fans
John O'Brien brings readers into teenage boys' frustrations and laughter as they struggle to integrate their different worlds.
How a woman sounds in the pulpit
Preaching is an embodied act. Do women perform it differently from men?
Beyond plastic saints
Stories of Christians working in the world offer hope that heals.
Dinosaurs, tigers, and pop ballads
Amid the puzzles of life, there is still pleasure in learning and listening.
Lifting the spirit
I've been inspired this year by Shonda Rhimes, the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Paul Angone.
Messengers of hope
This Advent, the people who have spoken most clearly to me are women and people of color: Aisha Hinds, D. L. Mayfield, Eddie Glaude, and Liz Theoharis.
Tales of different lands
Literature and film from England, Hungary, Japan, and Korea
Grace alive among us
Grace is an exchange, says Terra Schwerin Rowe—but not an economic one.
Proclaim the hope but proclaim it slant
Consolation comes to me at unexpected angles.
Jagged, trustworthy joy
I've hungered this year for art that honors complexity.
Books about living well
Insights from three scholars and one shepherd
The pleasures of good poems
This year, I've read the poetry of Mark Jarman, Tess Taylor, and Nicole Sealey with gratitude.
Hanging in there for love
Faithfulness isn't always pious or sweet.
Finding God in the sewer
Struggle on against the powers as if this desperate situation were nothing—because even now it is nothing.
Departments
Rock Island's 12-toed Jesus
Gentleness isn’t fragile
Coronation of the Madonna and Child, with Five Angels, by Sandro Botticelli
The Good Place, a prime-time sitcom full of ethical theory
Pass the Dream Act now
News
Anne Dyer to serve as first woman bishop in the Scottish Episcopal Church
Dyer was also among the first group of women ordained as Scottish Episcopal deacon and then priest.
Daniil Islamov, Jehovah’s Witness, remains imprisoned in Tajikistan
The 18-year-old was conscripted into the military, but refused to wear a military uniform or take an oath of service.
Tennessee Southern Baptists shun church with a woman senior pastor
Ellen Di Giosia was told that she could not vote in a statewide gathering of congregations.
After a mass shooting, what will a congregation do with the sanctuary?
Schools and other sites of violence have been razed and rebuilt. But it's a different question for places of prayer and worship.
Emanuel AME pastor Eric Manning shows solidarity with Sutherland Springs
“Though the motives may be different the result is the same: you have now two congregations who have gone through a tremendous amount of hatred and evil within their sacred spaces.”
Archaeologists want to hold off on rebuilding Jonah’s mosque in Mosul
An Iraqi-British team hopes to excavate an ancient Assyrian palace found under the demolished shrine, which local authorities are eager to restore.
Will mass shooting at Texas church prompt 'serious soul-searching'?
The attack may be the deadliest targeting a congregation in U.S. history.
Study shows surge in anti-Semitism in U.S.
A recent report indicates that incidents spiked during and immediately after white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.