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June 17, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #13

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Features

The Beyoncé Mass places black women’s stories at the center—and proclaims God’s love

The music gets people in the door. Yolanda Norton’s preaching might be what sticks to their bones.

by Faith J. Jones

Muslim voters are getting organized for the 2020 election

And they could determine the outcome.

by Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil

Why did Benny Gantz form a coalition government with Benjamin Netanyahu?

And will he regret it?

by Mordechai Beck

First Person

Wearing down structural evil with the ministry of erosion

During the pandemic, our church’s justice work has gone online.

by Willie Dwayne Francois III

Critical Essay

Social distancing lessons from the anchoresses

It takes more than isolation to make us into contemplatives.

by Shannon Gayk

Critical Essay

The old, evil idea of humans as units of production

When people’s value is reduced to their economic contributions, they are dehumanized.

by Whitney Wilkinson Arreche

Books

Imagination as a lens for making sense of the world

Cultivating a shared Christian imagination

by Zen Hess

A non-Christian’s argument for Christianity’s positive influence

Tom Holland doesn’t shout that secularists have no clothes. He whispers that they bear a Christian label.

by Samuel Wells

What is ecopiety?

The stories we tell about consuming our way to a healthy environment

by Jacob J. Erickson

How deaths of despair reached white communities

Two economists tell the story and suggest reforms.

by Graison Dangor

Departments

On Art

Jonah, by Lyuba Yatskiv

Few biblical narratives deal with separation from God and from others in so vivid a way as the story of Jonah in the belly of the great fish, depicted in this wood panel painting by Lyuba Yatskiv....

art selection and comment by John Kohan

Faith Matters

The best judges of my theology are the littlest ones

The questions that plunge me into a cloud of unknowing most often come from my Sunday school students.

by Isaac S. Villegas

Screen Time

My pandemic comfort viewing

Three TV shows and movies that have combated loneliness and brought welcome distraction

by Kathryn Reklis

From the Editors

Political attacks on the US Postal Service threaten more than just the mail

Democracy, equality, and opportunity are at risk.

First Words

Pentecost is the truest conspiracy

The church can conspire—breathe together—to bring goodness into the world.

by Peter W. Marty

News

Gun control group launches pre-election interfaith initiative

A leading gun control advocacy group has enlisted more than a dozen religious leaders to boost voter turnout this fall in support of candidates who support measures to prevent gun violence....

by Elana Schor