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It’s tempting to dismiss SBNRs as salad-bar spiritualists concerned primarily with themselves. But many assumptions about this group are off target.

“I find little support for democracy in scripture," says William H. Willimon. "Bishops have power to send because all ministry in Jesus’ name is ‘sent.’”

Is there an anti-birth control shift taking place among evangelicals? If so, do their arguments mirror Catholic thought?

The broken communion evident at any eucharistic service is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible state of affairs.

The church is not an ark floating on the top of the waters. It lives and breathes within the waters.

Redistributing wealth is what all public budgets do. The question is whether a given type of redistribution promotes justice and decency.

"The U.S has created a vast legal system for racial and social control, unprecedented in world history. Yet we claim to be colorblind."

Boycott and divestment aim to punish Israel. A more constructive strategy is needed.

There should be some kind of fanfare as the first seeds of a new season go in. But this sacred mundane act generally happens in silence.

What might God have to say about the creatures most people don’t think of as lovable?

Rousseau and Barth each imagined arriving in heaven with his books. But the response they anticipated could hardly have been more different.

Is John 1 a midrash on the creation story and the song of creative Wisdom? If so, its writer has infused it with profoundest joy.

“Silence gives me freedom in both real time and psychic time. When I talk less, I see more. And silence gives me time to pray.”

All deserts are silent, harsh and beautiful. Sinai adds its history of God’s dealings with humanity. It’s a holy place where the veil is lifted.

The Census Bureau avoids collecting data about religion. So most of what we know is based on what people reveal to independent researchers.

Driving through a mini-snowstorm, I thought I might see a snowbow. But it never materialized--and once again, none of the snow stuck.

Is the United Methodist Church an American denomination with extensions overseas? Or is it a worldwide communion?

Emily Scott had an idea: what if young adults got together for a weekly agape feast? Soon St. Lydia’s was born--but Scott was not ordained.

“There is the danger of protecting ourselves from God by striving to be passive. The ‘I’ is very active in its attempt to surrender.”

While Suzanne Collins’s trilogy does not have overt Christian themes, it does offer a social vision familiar to Christians.