People
Black liberation theologian James Cone dies at 79
In portraying Christ’s blackness, he upended the assumptions of a field dominated by white theologians and helped spawn other theories of liberation.
U.S. Assemblies of God elects first woman executive in more than a century
Donna L. Barrett is stepping into a top leadership role in the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination.
Bob Ricks, FBI's main spokesman in Waco standoff, looks back to 25 years ago
“Probably the best description of him is a master manipulator,” Ricks said of David Koresh, who died in a fire in 1993 along with dozens of his Branch Davidian followers.
Linda Brown Thompson, school desegregation pioneer, dies at age 75
The lifelong AME Church member was at the center of the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.
Frank Page, Southern Baptist head, resigns over 'a personal failing'
Page, 65, was known for bridging divides in the 15-million-member denomination.
Cleophus Smith, a Memphis sanitation worker and minister, keeps up fight for rights
Smith is one of the surviving workers whose strike brought Martin Luther King Jr. to Tennessee in 1968.
Megachurch founder Bill Hybels denies reports of sexual misconduct
Church elders and an outside firm investigated and cleared Hybels. But recently several former employees went public with their accounts—and doubts about the investigations.
Glen Guyton first person of color to be Mennonite Church USA's top executive
He was an air force captain who became a conscientious objector. Now he'll lead a historic peace church.
Casely Essamuah, "evangelical and ecumenical" pastor, to lead Global Christian Forum
Coming from Ghana, Essamuah views himself as a “bridge builder” between churches in the Global North and Global South.
Mohammed bin Salman's reforms bolster interfaith efforts
The Saudi crown prince’s Vision 2030 program includes rolling back the religious hierarchy’s power over domestic and foreign policies.
Stephen G. Ray Jr. begins presidency at Chicago Theological Seminary
Ray has "a deep awareness" of where theology intersects with race, politics, and culture.
Colorado Mennonite investigator jailed for refusing to testify in death penalty case
Greta Lindecrantz sees her work in legal defense as opposing execution as punishment, her pastor said, so she doesn't want to aid the prosecution.
Kathy Bogie and Ciara Lillie launch post-incarceration program for women in Texas
Magdalene House Kerrville—a sister organization of the program in Nashville, Tennessee—serves survivors of sex trafficking, prostitution, and addiction.
Gabriel Fackre, 'ecumenical evangelical' theologian, dies at age 92
Fackre was influential in the formation of the United Church of Christ and wrote the five-volume work The Christian Story.
Munib Younan, Palestinian Lutheran bishop, passes torch to Sani Ibrahim Azar
Before his consecration as bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, Azar was a pastor in Jerusalem's Old City for three decades.
Wyatt Tee Walker, MLK confidant and civil rights leader, dies
Walker was "a legend in his own right," said the current president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Walker also led.
George Manneh Weah takes helm in Liberia from fellow Methodist president
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf handed over power in the West African nation's first peaceful transition in decades.
George Lindbeck, a founder of postliberal theology, dies at age 94
He is best known for his 1984 book The Nature of Doctrine and his engagement in the ecumenical movement.
Harvey Guthrie Jr., leader during historic period for Episcopalians, dies
“He was a tireless advocate of racial and gender justice in the church,” a colleague said, “often at great cost to his own career.”
Jonathan Z. Smith, religion scholar, dies at age 79
Smith raised fundamental questions about the nature of religion.