Several years ago I met in D.C. with a group of young evangelical professionals. While certainly not world-fleeing fundamentalists, they were not theocrats either. They were seeking an alternative approach.
I'm making my rounds at Safeway, shopping for my church's community meal. In the produce section—where I am forbidden to ask for donations—I see two heaping boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables headed to the trash.
As youth become more and more attached to their digital gadgets, Christian camps are grappling with how to resist the power and presence of this technology.
We should respect people with whom we disagree. Should we also respect their convictions, even when these comprise an overarching interpretation of life with which we fundamentally disagree?
Some education reformers are trying to shift
the focus from test scores to the broader circumstances of children's
lives. One idea emphasizes schools as places where children connect with
the broader society.
"People need to hear the good news," says Katherine Willis Pershey of First Congregational Church in Western Springs, Illinois. "If the church doesn't take on this mission, I'm afraid—well, that's where that sentence can end. I'm afraid."
Wild Goose was a weekend of
fun and free spirits, as amateur musicians circled up to play, local beer
flowed, Frisbees soared and people lingered around
campfires. It was also punctuated by moments of intense reflection.
I used to receive postcards from conservative churches
advertising their upcoming sermon series. Why, I asked myself, don't mainline
churches advertise like this? That question led
to an experiment.
On February 23, Libya was convulsed in civil revolt. Oil prices spiked, and stock values plummeted. Meanwhile, in
New Jersey, a dog was euthanized. God
forgive me, but it is this last event that I will remember.
Pastoral ethnography is a strategy for listening to church members in a disciplined, attentive way. As a researcher, the pastor strives for a neutral attitude—which promotes honesty and greater understanding.
Though churches often minister to victims of violence, they do not often speak up about gun control. Yet a grassroots mobilization of churches could be the key to breaking the gun lobby's influence.
Perhaps the bishops view Elizabeth Johnson's work as dangerous precisely because she does not ridicule or reject tradition--she embraces it. She is loyal and critical at the same time.
In 1968, Joseph Ratzinger wrote a modestly sized treatise on the Apostles' Creed
called Introduction to Christianity. Its impact was anything but modest.