Features
A lever for change: Telling the congregation’s story
Fruitful leadership in an established
church requires learning the congregation's story. God's vision
will emerge partly out of that history, and leaders must be able to connect
the new vision to past visions.
The call goes on: Dicipleship and aging
The language of vocation confirms that at no time in our lives are we exempt from responsibility for others. We never stop being called to share in the creative and redemptive activity of God through lives of discipleship.
Pain, prayer, poetry: An interview with Christian Wiman
“For decades there has been a premium on language as subject,” says poet Christian Wiman. But recently poets are “trying to find some way of speaking of ‘ultimate things’ with some sort of credibility.”
Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011: Acts 10:34-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18
The hope of Easter sunrise is found at the tomb amid the darkness and disbelief.
Global engagement
The Vietnam War forced Protestant ethicists to consider Catholic teachings about war, and I learned much from Catholic colleagues. My outlook was also changed by ecumenical contacts of another kind.
Cultural recovery in Haiti: Text and photographs by Gary G. Yerkey
Pulling works of art from the rubble of buildings destroyed in a
disaster may seem trivial compared with providing food and medical care. But it helps ensure the
culture's long-term recovery.
Anger and longing
When Arcade Fire won a Grammy for album of the year, Win Butler came to the podium clinging to his identity as one of
the band geeks. "We're gonna go play another song because we like
music"—just in case anyone had forgotten about the music after Lady Gaga emerged from an egg,
Katy Perry swung from the ceiling and Gwyneth Paltrow danced on a piano.
No common good?
The common good is taking a beating. Economic inequality has accelerated dramatically since the early 1980s, and many think nothing can be done about it. But that verdict is a nonstarter for Christian morality.
Of Gods and Men
Although the French film Of Gods and Men is set in Algeria in 1996, it could just as easily be set in any Middle Eastern or African country that is struggling with the rise of Islamic extremism. You can see the film playing out in any number of dangerous locales over the centuries—anywhere where people of Christian, Muslim or another faith have to make difficult choices that involve their beliefs in a higher power.
Books
India Calling, by Anand Giridharadas
India is a country predicted to pass China in economic growth, even as 80 percent of its more than 1 billion people live in persistent and extreme poverty with incomes of less than $2 a day....
Fictional pastors
Douglas Alan Walrath's astute survey of American novels about clergy is essential reading for budding pastors—as well as
for anybody who wants to understand why we American
clergy are the way we are.
When Blood and Bones Cry Out, by John Paul Lederach and Angela Jill Lederach
John Paul Lederach, practitioner and theorist of peace building, has grounded his work in stories and metaphor....
Power, Politics, and the Missouri Synod by James C. Burkee
One of the nastiest church fights in American history took place in the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in the late 1960s and early 1970s....
How the Other Half Lives, by Johnna Fredrickson and William A. Smith
In 1995, as I was beginning a sabbatical to study older women married to clergy, a longtime seminary professor gave me a book from his library and told me about a class called "Mistress of the Mans...
Departments
Amid messy politics
If we're following Jesus, we can't spend our lives in Galilee. We can't
hide behind the popular myth that religion and politics don't mix.
And Jesus sang
After Jesus shared his last supper with his friends, they sang a hymn together. There is every reason to believe it was the Hallel, Psalms 113 through 118. How have I missed this before?
Resurrected cathedrals
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the
persecuted Orthodox Church began its resurrection. Nothing better illustrates this revival than the restoration of the cathedrals and churches.
Untitled 7 (Head of Jesus)
When Boston-area artist Linda Burke first fired a gun, it kicked back, offloading a hot cartridge that went down her shirt. As she scrambled to save herself, she forgot that she was holding a gun with the safety catch off....
Tax benefit
Paying taxes in this country is ordinarily accompanied by much
grumbling. But paying taxes is not just a
legal duty but a moral opportunity.
News
Charitable giving stable while recession ebbs
Charities are seeing improvements in fund-raising, with fewer charities recording declines in 2010 compared with 2009, according to a recent report....
Obama praised, criticized for visit to Romero tomb
President Barack Obama's visit in March to the tomb of the late Oscar Romero, the martyred archbishop who was assassinated 31 years ago, is getting mixed reviews by U.S. commentators....
U.N. panel adopts stance on religious freedom
U.S. officials praised a United Nations council for a new statement
on religious freedom that sidestepped a divisive debate sponsored by
Islamic countries over the "defamation of religions."...
Most don’t blame God for disasters
We may never know why bad things happen to good people, but most
Americans—except evangelicals—reject the idea that natural disasters are
divine punishment, a test of faith or some other sign from God,...
Methodists: Drinking still a touchy topic
Pastor James Howell knew he had a problem on his hands when several
teenagers arrived at a church dance drunk and had to be taken from the
church by ambulance to be treated for alcohol poisoning. Starting in...
Schuller disparages ban on gays in church’s choir
Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller says he never would have
approved a recent covenant that the church's choir members were asked
to sign urging them to be Christian and heterosexual....
Smithsonian is restoring Jefferson’s unique Bible
A Smithsonian museum is restoring the "Jefferson Bible," a unique
volume that the third president himself cut and pasted—omitting lots of
theology—from portions of the New Testament....
Research disputes ‘facts’ on Christian divorces
It's been proclaimed from pulpits and blogs for years: Christians
divorce as much as everyone else in America. But some scholars and
family activists are questioning the oft-cited statistics, saying...
Applying Niebuhr’s ideas tough chore for academics
What happens when the contested legacy of America's most famous
20th-century theologian meets the harsh political realities of the 21st?
You end up with questions like whether Reinhold Niebuhr would support
waterboarding....
Lectionary
Easter Sunday, April 24, 2011: Acts 10:34-43; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18
The hope of Easter sunrise is found at the tomb amid the darkness and disbelief.