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December 29, 2021

Volume 138, Issue #26
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Features

Critical Essay

Christian nationalism vandalizes the imagination

When churches whitewashed their walls, they left themselves vulnerable.

by Lanta Davis

Readers Write

Quake: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “Quake.”

In Cairo, I sat in on a scriptural reasoning group with Christians and Muslims

Moving beyond amicable consensus to productive discomfort

by David A. Hoekema

First Person

How should I pray for the climate?

I followed COP26 from a distance. Other Christians showed up in Glasgow and asked God to intervene.

by Liuan Huska

Stephen Sondheim’s expressions of yearning

My spirituality was shaped by this secular artist’s powerful spiritual questions.

by Martin B. Copenhaver

Books

Stories of the unhoused faithful

Listening to the poorest and most dislocated, Susan J. Dunlap hears the music of faith.

by Jeffrey L. Johnson

A new translation of “The Dark Night of the Soul” thrills with adventure

In St. John of the Cross’s poetry, the dark night is also a night of profound, even ecstatic beauty.

by Amy Frykholm

How 20th-century mainline Protestants shaped immigration policy

And how that policy shaped the 21st-century mainline church

by Robert Shaffer

A novel about purity culture and its harm

At its core, God Spare the Girls is about a family history doomed to repeat itself.

by Ella Schmeits

Departments

Faith Matters

SpaceX, Meta, and the Christ child

While we're looking for escape, God comes near.

by Brian Bantum

First Words

If God is almighty, why do we suffer?

A nine-year-old at my church wants to know.

by Peter W. Marty

Screen Time

The ultrarich and their total depravity

The White Lotus is part of a growing subgenre that probes extreme wealth as moral deformity.

by Kathryn Reklis

On Art

Holy Family Immigration, by Wayne Lacson Forte

Born in the Philippines, educated in the United States and Europe, and married in Brazil, Wayne Lacson Forte makes religious art with a global perspective....

art selection and comment by John Kohan

From the Editors

The Russian troops at the Ukraine border are part of a larger ploy

What can the US do to change Putin’s political calculus?

News

Clinic at epicenter of SCOTUS abortion case stays open

As the US Supreme Court heard a Mississippi case that could topple abortion rights nationwide, the state’s only abortion clinic was busier than ever....

by Emily Wagster Pettus

Church of Sweden apologizes for abuse of Sámi people

During a special worship service at its general synod, the Church of Sweden formally apologized to the Sámi people on November 24 for centuries of “mistreatment and complacency.”...

New Pew study looks at views on theodicy, afterlife

In September, the Pew Research Center dug into the views adults in the United States hold on theodicy (why do bad things happen to good people?), as well as their views on the reality of heaven and hell and how one gets to either destination....

by Mark Wingfield

Archaeologists find structure corroborating Hanukkah stories

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a 2,100-year-old stronghold they believe constitutes physical evidence of the years-long armed conflict whose crucial battle is celebrated by Jews during Hanukkah....

by Michele Chabin

Why ‘sorcery’ was the fastest-growing biblical search term in 2021

The topics people search for each year on Bible Gateway are always interesting, according to Jonathan Petersen, content manager of the website. But 2021’s may be the “most intriguing,” Petersen wrote on the site....

by Emily McFarlan Miller

People

Clergy sexual abuse whistleblower Phil Saviano dies at 69

Phil Saviano, a clergy sexual abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, has died. He was 69....

by William J. Kole

People

Bridget Moix to lead Quaker lobbying group

Bridget Moix has been named the next general secretary of the Friends Com­mittee on National Legislation, a Quak­er organization that lobbies Con­gress on issues of peace, justice, and environmental stewardship....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

People

Dr. Oz hopes to be first Muslim in US Senate

Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon and host of The Dr. Oz Show, has launched a campaign for Pennsylvania’s open US Senate seat....

by Joseph Hammond

Lectionary

January 16, Epiphany 2C (John 2:1-11)

The wedding at Cana is a reminder that Jesus’ kingdom is a miraculous kingdom—a mystical kingdom.

by Ismael Ruiz-Millán

January 9, Baptism C (Luke 3:15–17, 21–22)

When we resist the powers that oppress this world, we are baptized through fire.

by Ismael Ruiz-Millán

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