Critical Essay
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to a community in the middle of a culture war
The church at Corinth had many problems. Some simple kindness would have helped.
Mary's joy is for everyone
The Magnificat rejoices in a God who acts within human history.
Charged with the grandeur of God—and the influence of Flannery O'Connor
The faith-infused southern fiction of Tim Gautreaux, Robert Olen Butler, and Jamie Quatro
When Islam and Christianity clash, and when they don't
Muslims and Christians can live peacefully together. I've seen it.
The Babel story is about the dangers of uniformity
Forget the tower. The problem is that everyone "had the same words."
Americans have never agreed on what religious freedom means
Peyote use has been defended with religious liberty arguments. So has Bible reading in public schools.
On Luther and his lies
As the Reformation's 500th anniversary nears, Christians are contending with Luther's violently anti-Jewish writings.
How do novelists write about faith in a culture that's moving past it?
Oddly, the less people know about something the harder it is to tell them about it.
200 years that shaped Judaism, Jesus, and all that followed
The religious world we know was formed between 250 and 50 B.C.E.
Robert Jenson and the God of the gospel
With the critical knife of a theology of the cross, Jens sought to cut through modern fogs of religiosity.
Encountering the Gerasene demoniac in an American prison
Incarceration is a tomb. It beats death into people.
Inclusive, exclusive, or pluralistic?
A dialogue on Judaism in relation to other religions
Mystery and ministry in Grantchester and beyond
Detectives, like pastors, examine the unknowable to reveal the knowable.
How can we fell the demons of hatred?
Narratives of fear, domination, and greed abound. But there's a better story.
Niebuhrians left and right
Religious leaders as different as William Barber and Russell Moore reflect Reinhold Niebuhr's insights.
The logic of Calvin's reform
If Luther's reform was triggered by a critique of indulgences, Calvin's was triggered by a critique of idolatry.
What two pastors from novels taught me about incarnational presence
Mr. Irwine and Tóti offer lessons in going below the surface.
Ecclesiastes for the ecclesia
A wisdom ecclesiology embraces the church’s earthly context—but without romanticizing it.
The strange hope of dystopian fiction since The Road
Surviving and communing together are sacred gestures.
What does it mean to hope?
Hope holds us in our time. Without it, we have no place in our own history.