Features
Acacias in the desert: Breaking the cycle of drought
Life in Africa's Sahel region is precarious. There is little biodiversity, annual crops offer a meager harvest, and when the rains don't come famine does. But there is a way to break this cycle.
Freelance theologian: Anna Madsen sets up shop
Anna Madsen has regular clients she sees on a freelance basis. One woman "is so hungry for theological conversation that she has booked every Friday until kingdom come."
Set apart: The Haredim in Israel
No week passes in Israel without an article being published—usually negative in tone—about the Haredi community.
Black Swan
Director Darren Aronofsky performs a psychological pas de deux with composer Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky in Black Swan, a fractured, fascinating study of the high-pressure world of big-time New York ballet.
Natalie Portman (who studied ballet in her teens) plays Nina Sayers, a timid but talented ballerina who has sacrificed a normal life in order to make it as a dancer. Her chances for stardom are fading, however, because of age, injury and the constant emergence of young dancers.
Where our money goes: An itemized tax receipt
If we can put a man on the moon and then, 40 years later, persist in spending far more on spacecraft than on passenger trains, we ought to be able to distribute an income-tax receipt that says so.
Books
Russian heart
The opening lines of Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground (1864) can hardly be described as inviting: "I am a sick man. . . . I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man....
A review of The History of White People
Have you ever wondered why there are so many terms for white people? Caucasian is often the designation on the census form....
A review of Christmas
Heinz, who proclaims that Christmas is his favorite season, looks at the extensive material festival it's become and is more intrigued than bothered....
A Review of The Vietnam War and Theologies of Memory
Why are wars so common given that they are so destructive? When they are so rarely won? When they are so often fought for reasons that turn out to be lies?...
A review of God Is in the Manger
This collection of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany are drawn from his sermons, letters and other writings....
Decide or discern
The prevalence of the language and practice of discernment owes much to the larger movement of what Diana Butler Bass has termed "retraditioning" as well as a renewed focus on spiritual practices....
A review of Take Our Moments and Our Days
This second volume of Take Our Moments and Our Days covers the liturgical year from Advent through Pentecost....
A review of Reluctant Pilgrim
Does a writer's confession and confusion endear that person to you? If yes, you may be the perfect reader for Enuma Okoro's spiritual quest memoir. If not, you might want to take a pass....
Murderous nation
In 1863 a cooper in Chillicothe, Ohio, named Schyler Courier angrily responded to a group of boys throwing snowballs at him by firing his shotgun, killing one of the boys....
A review of Handel’s Messiah
John Newton called hearing the Messiah "one of the highest and noblest gratifications of which we are capable." Combining history, biography, music theory and theology, retired music profe...
Departments
Z’s Family and H’s Family
A series of oil paintings titled Yan' Guan Town, by Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong, explores two families, one Christian and one Muslim, both living in a region of China considered a "crossroads of cultures." ...
The sound of silence
I was the only woman in a seminary course on negative theology. One day, a young man raised his hand and asked, “What about an ordinary housewife? How could a person like that live this life of prayer?”
A second spring
Much media attention has gone to Venezuela. But leftist regimes have sprouted elsewhere in Latin America--regimes that are friendly with liberationist thinkers and communities.
Violent America
During the past year, Chicago has experienced a disturbing spate of murders of police officers....
Negotiating the presidency
By conviction and temperament, President Obama seeks the middle ground....
News
Family Research Council added to ‘hate group’ list
The Southern Poverty Law Center is adding the Family Research Council and four other conservative religious organizations to its list of hate groups because of "falsehoods" in their antigay statements....
Church of England gives OK to Anglican covenant
The Church of England, defying opposition from its traditionalist wing, has given its support to a global covenant aimed at keeping the Anglican Communion intact in the face of disputes over homosexuality and female bishops....
Surveys support openly gay in the military
The long-awaited Pentagon survey of military personnel found that the majority sees little negative impact if and when gays are allowed to serve openly in the U.S. armed forces....
Top Orthodox archbishop faces sexual abuse charges
A Canadian Orthodox archbishop has been charged with sexually assaulting two ten-year-old boys about 25 years ago....
People
New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson, who teaches at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, has won the 2011 Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion, worth $100,000, for his book Among the Gentiles: Greco-Ro...
On ethics, clergy get middling grade
What do nurses, soldiers, pharmacists, elementary school teachers,
doctors and police officers have in common? Americans say they are all
more ethical and honest than members of the clergy, according to a
Gallup survey....
Vatican defends pope’s record on sexual abuse
While still a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI sought in vain to expedite
the process for defrocking priests guilty of grave crimes, according to a
1988 letter published in the official Vatican newspaper. The letter,...
Palestinians pull claim to Western Wall after U.S. State Department objects
Following condemnation from the U.S. State Department and others, the
Palestinian government has pulled a report stating that Jews have no
historic connection to the Western Wall....
Muslims say respect is key to better relations
About half of Muslims surveyed worldwide believe that the West does
not respect them, according to a new Gallup report, and many say not
desecrating the Qur'an and portraying more "accurate" Muslim movie...
Top religion news in 2010 evoked sense of déjà vu
The calendar may have said 2010, but for Pope Benedict XVI and much of his global flock, it looked and felt a lot like 2002....
Gays in the armed forces: Israelis say ‘no problem’
Israel, like the United States, is a largely secular society with
deep religious roots. And Israel, like the U.S., is home to vocal
religious conservatives who frown on homosexuality. But Israel, unlike...