Features
The rest of the story: Ministry at Trinity UCC
Jeremiah Wright needs no defense from me. Anyone who has built a congregation from 87 members to some 8,000 and whose congregation has created models of ministry in one of the poorest areas of Chicago has a body of work that speaks for itself. A recent press release from Trinity United Church of Christ, issued by its new senior pastor, Otis Moss III, notes that on Sunday mornings alone, over 36 years, Pastor Wright has spoken for a total of 207,792 minutes.
Down on the farm: The problem with government subsidies
A breakfast frequently served at my son’s school—where over half the children receive government-supported meals—consists of commercially produced French toast sticks and syrup. The list of ingredients on the package for this meal is as long as this paragraph. It includes not only partially hydrogenated soybean oil and high fructose corn syrup, but also more mystifying additives like gelatinized wheat starch, calcium caseinate, lecithin, guar gum and cellulose gum. The story of how these items arrive at a school cafeteria and are designated as food is a long and complicated one involving the interaction of farmers, government policy makers and the food industry. The modern story of why we eat what we eat begins in the 1930s, when President Franklin Roosevelt faced the challenges of the Depression. He saw that many farmers were poor and that one in every five people in the country was undernourished. Farmers and other Americans were too vulnerable, he believed, to the cycles of boom and bust.
Food fight: How international aid fails the poor
Why would any relief agency reject U.S. food aid? Beginning in 2009, CARE will do just that, forgoing $45 million a year in U.S. food aid because of its disagreement with monetization, the process of selling U.S. food abroad in order to raise needed cash for development projects and administrative costs. CARE maintains that the sale of U.S. food in the fragile markets of recipient countries competes with the sale of food produced by local farmers, causing prices to drop and lowering farmers’ income.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
When he was in his early 40s, Jean-Dominique Bauby, editor of a French fashion magazine, suffered a massive stroke which left him completely paralyzed except for the movement of one eye. By using this eye and a Morse code of sorts, he was able to dictate a memoir to a caring and patient scribe. It is not a memoir in the traditional sense but a series of observations, a stream-of-consciousness examination of one man’s feelings, random memories and spiritual meanderings as he lies immobile in a hospital outside of Paris.
Books
Imperial assumptions
Every contemporary theological interpreter must come to terms with the fact that every interpretation is local and informed by ...
Overcoming Life's Disappointments
Joy and gratitude are the subjects of many popular books. There are workshops on grief and anger and a library of literature on depression....
Everything Must Change
Brian McLaren may not eat locusts or wear clothing made of camel’s hair....
BookMarks
Reading Paul is a very accessible introduction to the theology of the apostle Paul....
Departments
Hard words: Wright’s jeremiad
I wish Jeremiah Wright had made his point about America’s failings without saying “God damn America.” But not for a moment do I wish he had been less prophetic....
The Wright context: Prophetic preaching
If you were to visit Trinity United Church of Christ, a predominantly African-American congregation on the Chicago’s South Side, you would be warmly welcomed. You’d experience spirited singing that comes deep from the soul....
Choice terms: Fancy religious language
The word jargon suggests needlessly obscure words that insiders use to dazzle and confuse outsiders. But if we call the same words “technical vocabulary,” we’re suggesting a precise and established way of speaking that emphasizes accuracy....
Delegate count: The Ickes strategy past and present
As a delegate and organizer at six Democratic national conventions (those that nominated George McGovern, Jimmy Carter [twice], Bill Clinton [twice] and Al Gore), I offer this advice to the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton: settle the...
Grace in the center: A sampling of sayings
Tim Goeglein, special assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Public Liaison, was recently caught plagiarizing Dartmouth veteran Jeffrey Hart....
News
Century Marks
Get moving: Americans could cut carbon emissions by 64 million tons if they’d either walk or bicycle for 30 minutes a day instead of driving. They’d also collectively shed 3 billion pounds of excess fat in the process. Even more would be done for the environment if people gave up eating meat, since livestock production produces 18 percent of the world’s greenhouse-gas emissions (Sierra, March/April).
People
Alistair Brown, general director of the British Baptists’ mission agency since 1996, will become the head of an American Baptist seminary, according to the Baptist World Alliance....
Briefly noted
Research indicates that within the next 12 years, the number of Muslims worshiping at mosques in Britain will outstrip that of Catholics attending mass....
Jerusalem to permit first non-Orthodox cemetery: Court had ordered change years ago
Non-Orthodox Jewish groups are praising the decision of Jerusalem municipal officials to approve the establishment of the city’s first non-Orthodox cemetery....
Pope's baptism of Muslim is questioned in Italy: Leaders shocked by event's high profile
Pope Benedict XVI’s baptism of an Egyptian-born formerly Muslim Italian journalist, known for being a strident critic of restrictions on religious freedom in Islamic countries, has been questioned by Muslim leaders in Italy....
Judge rules against female seminary professor: Sheri Klouda and Southern Baptist
A federal judge in Texas has ruled against a former professor at a prominent Southern Baptist seminary who said she was dismissed because of her gender....
Gambling opponents say moral arguments fall flat: Economically grounded arguments may be more effective
The moral opposition to gambling may be gasping for its last breaths....
UMC membership down, but constituency expands: Worship attendance dips only slightly
The number of professing adult United Methodist Church members has continued to decline—now to 7.93 million—though the last tabulated drop was less than a percentage point....
New Baptist Covenant to convene again in 2011: Triennial meetings are historical Baptist pattern
Organizers of the New Baptist Covenant celebration are recommending a repeat of the historic pan-Baptist event in 2011 but not a new denomination or other permanent organization....
Gay acceptance has advances and setbacks in three denominations: No consensus
“The Church’s Unfinished Sexual Revolution” was the title of an article in the spring 2006 issue of Yale Divinity School’s Reflections magazine. In it longtime Christian ethicist James B....
Responding to Obama: Reactions to the Philadelphia speech on race
Richard Lischer, professor of preaching, Duke Divinity School: “It’s been 40 years since we have heard redemptive language in the political arena....
Focus differs on Wright and GOP friend Hagee: "Wright didn't want to nuke anybody"
Two politically attuned professors in the South called the sharp rhetoric of Jeremiah Wright understandable in the context of an inner-city, largely black church, and both experts marveled at how political opponents seized upon the former pastor’s...
Obama caught between pulpit and politics: A politician and a parishioner
When Senator Barack Obama faced the cameras in a nationally televised speech in mid-March, he was caught between his roles as politician and parishioner, forced to condemn his pastor’s words as he tried to advance his own campaign for president....