Features
Politics in the pulpit? Case by case
Betsy had always worked across interfaith lines. She didn’t expect there would be any problems with her message in the congregation.
A response by Theresa F. Latini: Case by case
Transformation for Betsy, her congregants, and others will likely occur through encounters with members of the Muslim community. As a leader, Betsy can cultivate these encounters.
The precious ordinary: Novelist Kent Haruf
“I wanted to create a different kind of preacher—someone who would be in opposition to what would be normal in a small town like that.”
No longer strangers: Ministerial group bridges left-right divide
When Larry Engel thanked Mike Breininger for running a productive meeting, Breininger was startled: "I don't recall a liberal pastor ever complimenting me."
Faith, hops, and love: The homebrew movement goes to church
In local churches, brewing clubs have formed for fun and fellowship. They’re also extending a deep tradition of hospitality to non-Christians.
Holy stuff: Whats left when a church closes
"The church is not a building," says the song. Yet most churches have walls, a basement, and decades of accumulated accoutrements.
Goin’ nowhere
Llewyn Davis lives a decidedly nonromantic existence as a starving artist. He’s a good musician, but there are thousands like him, and they can’t all succeed.
Books
Living Thoughtfully, Dying Well, by Glen E. Miller
Miller, an internist, has coronary heart disease....
Of monks and men
As a prospective monk at the Algerian Trappist monastery, Freddy Derwahl came to know the community before the 1996 abduction of seven brothers.
Why the Germans? Why the Jews? by Götz Aly
Aly addresses one of the most troubling and enduring questions of the 20th century: How could the German nation kill 6 million Jews?...
The past is now
Margaret Bendroth and John Fea both contend that Christians need to encounter the past in all its complexity and humanity.
Approaching the End, by Stanley Hauerwas
Stanley Hauerwas’s book is about learning how to die and training how to be human. Broadly speaking, it is a book about time and purpose—or, better said, the purpose of time.
The Good Lord Bird: A Novel by James McBride
The Good Lord Bird is a tale of the antebellum South like none you’ve heard. A young slave is liberated by John Brown, who will later try to ignite a revolution.
Departments
A pastor's study
Many of us love the busyness and energy of a robust church. And yet all of us pastors must summon an uncommon discipline if we are to reflect the priority of preaching.
In the land of Zomia
Any account of Asian Christianity must deal with minority peoples. One large and diverse region has more than 100 million people—many of them Christian.
Journey stories
This Lent, add a journey story to your reading. Follow Gilgamesh to the ends of the earth or the Knights of the Round Table into the forest.
Diptych / A Spiritual House (digital laminate to black aluminum) by Deborah Risa Mrantz
Deborah Risa Mrantz, founder of Guildworks iAbraham Ministries, works with socially conscious artists at the converging planes of Abrahamic traditions....
Wages to spend
Washington is finally talking about increasing the minimum wage. Such a move comes with costs, but the benefits are far greater.
News
Vatican lets public see excavated Roman cemetery
In the first century BC, a grassy hillside just north of what is now St. Peter’s Square was used as a burial place for local Romans....
Pope’s words twisted, says cardinal
As Pope Francis led the world’s cardinals at talks in Rome, a senior American cardinal took to the pages of the Vatican newspaper to reassure conservatives that Francis remains opposed to abortion and gay marriage....
Baptisms prove to be not so spontaneous
A Southern Baptist megachurch pastor in North Carolina, already under fire for buying a $1.6 million house, is in the spotlight for “spontaneous baptisms” that turned out to be not nearly so spontaneous....
Cozy up to capitalism? Dalai Lama demurs
Some of the brightest pro-business minds in the nation recently prodded the Dalai Lama in Washington, D.C., to offer a warm endorsement of capitalism....
Presbyterian booklet attacks Zionism
Major Jewish civil rights groups are denouncing a new publication distributed by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that rejects the existence of Israel as a Jewish state....
A seashell shines at Episcopal cathedral
Forget crosses, saints, and scenes from the Bible. The prominent face of a cathedral should be adorned these days with something more welcoming to all people: a seashell....
Lectionary
March 30, 2014 (1 Samuel 16:1-13)
Can someone be called and not know it?
Sunday, March 23, 2014: John 4:5-42
Jesus chooses a circumstance of division, then instigates community.