Features
For all peoples
Judaism once had a universalist vision, long before Christianity emerged as a distinct religion. What happened to it?
Amid cruelty and oppression, can the church be faithful at human scale?
We are all being formed not only by what we profess but by what our bodies learn to tolerate.
I dreamed I made my mentor cry
He was giving an academic talk on character education, and I asked a question I would never ask in real life.
The common good is something we practice face-to-face
The incarnation pulls my attention away from ideology and toward my neighbor.
My queer, infertile fatherhood
Last Lent, I found myself reckoning with the concept of failure—and beginning to understand the power of standing in suffering with God.
Four things mainline churches should know about exvangelicals
An Episcopal congregation served as my gateway out of evangelicalism—but I did experience some culture shock.
Reconstructing in the pews
Some exvangelicals are looking for a new church home. Will they find it in a mainline congregation?
When the Lunar New Year, Lent, and Ramadan converge
The February moon is capacious enough for carnival, lion dances, and taraweeh prayers; for dumplings, dates, and king cake.
Danced religion at halftime
The stage was set for a direct confrontation at the Super Bowl. Instead, Bad Bunny created a liturgy for belonging.
Bad Bunny and us
What we witnessed at the Super Bowl was less a performance than an invitation.
Formed for solidarity
Each year, Episcopalians gather in Alabama to enact a liturgy remembering Jonathan Daniels and other civil rights martyrs.
The lives of wild seeds
Mayan seed guardians and Mennonite farmers are working to recognize their interdependence—with each other and with the land.
Seeing with clarity
You can live a long time off a vision like the transfiguration. But there is much else in this world we must look at, from which we dare not avert our eyes.
Entertainment in an Easter Egg Economy
From Taylor Swift to Stranger Things, pop culture fandom now includes sleuthing—for better or worse.
Feeling our way through climate change
A yearlong conversation between scientists and clergy has helped me rethink the promise of MDiv education.
A heart that spoke and listened
Lerita Coleman Brown’s health journey drew her to the contemplative path. She taught me to listen with my whole self.
What we could not see as beautiful
When I told my reading group we’d be looking at one of Brian Staveley’s dark fantasy novels alongside Hans Urs von Balthasar’s theology, they balked.
Luther Seminary’s death mask
The school’s replica mold of Martin Luther’s face reminds me that I’m readying the plaster for the tradition that bears his name.
Learning in pieces
Theological education may be fracturing, but there’s wisdom and beauty in the fragments.
Portraits of silence
My week in a convent helped me see how our freedom is contaminated by noise. Silentium is a tribute to the nuns who welcomed me.