Guest Post

New today from the Century: A cure for medicine, self-conversion projects, more.

Americans are not very good with failure. We take it personally; we draw lines in the sand and cast blame. And the Chicago Public Schools are, for the most part, failing—failing to provide an environment that fosters teacher excellence, failing to provide a physical environment in which kids can learn, failing to graduate kids with the basic skills to succeed, failing to graduate kids at all.

New today from the Century: Snow White's revival, speaking of money, more.

New today from the Century: What Jesus is doing, children in worship, more.

New today from the Century: The moral hazards of football, social media and social change, more.

New today from the Century: Lament for the plains, Stephen Hawking biography, more.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been a harsh critic of the Obama administration, but he is blessing Democrats and Republicans equally by giving the closing prayer at both parties’ conventions.  The Republicans invited him first, and his acceptance raised questions about whether Dolan, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was lending the authority of the Catholic hierarchy to the GOP. But then the Democrats shrewdly invited him to pray at their convention too. Dolan shrewdly accepted.

New today from the Century: A congregation disagrees in love, Dolan's equal opportunity praying, more.

In 1965, MLK asked religious leaders to come to Selma and march. Decades later, plans are taking shape in Montgomery to honor those who came.

New today from the Century: The end of AIDS? Steve Jobs as a role model? More.

New today from the Century: The election and race, poetry and politics, more.

New today from the Century: Gospel and pith, Pussy Riot and the Plastics, more.

Tom Stoppard’s wonderful play Rock N’ Roll covers the period between 1968, when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague, and 1990, when the Rolling Stones played the city. It’s Stoppard at his near-best: warm and funny, romantic and revolutionary, dedicated to ideas.  At the heart of the play is the reluctant dissident Jan. In Prague, says Jan, “there is only one agent of truth. That is not human—humans disagree with each other.”

New today from the Century: Jesus and the Buddha, work and leisure, more.

One hundred years ago this summer, a fundamentalist Christian stood before the convention of a major political party and offered an impromptu resolution. He ended his impassioned speech by quoting words of Jesus. The speech was not what you might expect.

New today from the Century: Stephanie Paulsell on the Shakers, David Heim on William Jennings Bryan, more.

New today from the Century: Review of Ross Douthat, dealing with inappropriate comments in ministry, more.

New today from the Century: The power of poetic preaching, church growth but from where, more.

Do you remember what the world was like before Walmart? Can you imagine a world without the retailer (again)? My wife and I seldom shop at the Walmart in our town. (Occasionally one of our grandchildren will put something from there on a gift wish list.) However, when we’re at our family’s lake cottage, we shop regularly at Walmart—it’s one of the only options in that area. Every time we walk into the place, one of us utters some misgivings about the experience.