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November 3, 2021

Volume 138, Issue #22

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Features

First Person

My child died shortly after my mother died

In between, I was ordained a priest.

by Liz Tichenor

Interviews

Whiteness rooted in place

“All of our efforts at changing the social fabric of this country must begin with changing the geographic fabric.”

Matthew Vega interviews Willie James Jennings

Why are so many of the most influential moms on the internet Mormon?

Influencer culture and LDS theology fit together surprisingly well.

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Critical Essay

The religious fundamentalism that fuels the US-Iran oil standoff

What did the Moral Majority and the Islamic Revolution have in common?

by K. L. Marshall

First Person

I just can’t quit Facebook

Yes, it’s harmful to children, democracy, and much more. It also makes my life better.

by Jessica Mesman

The holy simplicity of artist John August Swanson

His art is like the man who created it: joyful, loving, and gently curious.

by R. Guy Erwin

Books

The stickers and boomers of Idaho’s Treasure Valley

Grace Olmstead has written a reverent ode to those who stick around.

by Valerie Weaver-Zercher

The voice of God in Malamud, O’Connor, Updike, and Morrison

Peter C. Brown’s project is urgent and personal.

by David Crowe

Diana Butler Bass’s love letter to Jesus

Freeing Jesus is not the kind of book we expect from someone with a PhD.

by Martin B. Copenhaver

Departments

First Words

The New York Public Library’s act of grace

The end of fines and late fees

by Peter W. Marty

On Art

The Letter and the Spirit, by David Wojkowicz

Czech printmaker David Wojkowicz challenges our traditional ways of visualizing biblical narrative....

art selection and comment by John Kohan

Screen Time

Tammy Faye Bakker’s story and Mark Driscoll’s in conversation

Church celebrity is complicated.

by Kathryn Reklis

Faith Matters

The waters of baptism remember

What was the earthy taste of river water telling me?

by Isaac S. Villegas

From the Editors

The recent increase in SNAP benefits was long overdue

Food stamps may be the most effective tool we have for fighting domestic poverty.

News

People

Sen. Raphael Warnock wins award from Roosevelt family

Georgia senator Raphael Warnock received the Roosevelt Institute’s Freedom of Worship Award in a ceremony on October 13....

by Adelle M. Banks

Report: 330,000 French children were victims of church sexual abuse

Victims of abuse within France’s Catholic Church welcomed a historic turning point on October 5 after a new report estimated that 330,000 children in France were sexually abused over the past 70 years, providing the country’s first accounting of t...

by Sylvie Corbet

United Methodist Publishing House sells campus for $24.5 million

The United Methodist Publishing House announced on October 4 that the sale of its Nashville property has been completed, at a price of $24.5 million. The lakefront campus was sold to R2, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm....

by Sam Hodges

Catholic nonprofit trains youth to end religious conflict in Nigeria

Nigeria, a country of more than 200 million people, is deeply divided along religious lines. For two decades, violent clashes between Muslims and Christians have claimed thousands of lives....

by Patrick Egwu and Ekpali Saint

Southern Baptist panel to open legal records for abuse probe

The Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee agreed on October 5 to open up legally protected records to investigators who will look into how it handled, or mishandled, cases of sexual abuse within the nation’s largest Protestant denomin...

by Peter Smith

Rural chaplains support communities facing labor shortages, hate groups

On any given day, Bob Klingler, a rural chaplain in northwestern Pennsylvania, might be cleaning a flooded basement, facilitating an antiracist workshop, or leading worship from the bay of a livestock auction barn....

by Kathryn Post

Remnants of Black church uncovered at Colonial Williamsburg

The brick foundation of one of the nation’s oldest Black churches has been unearthed at Colonial Williamsburg, a living history museum in Virginia that continues to reckon with its past storytelling about the country’s origins and the role of Blac...

by Ben Finley

People

First woman ordained in Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi

This article originally appeared on lutheranworld.org...

People

Pat Robertson steps down from The 700 Club

Pat Robertson, who turned a tiny Virginia television station into a global religious broadcasting network, is stepping down after a half century running The 700 Club on daily TV, the Christian Broadcasting Network announced on October 1....

by Ben Finley