Features
Shelter in the parsonage: Case by case
Roberta insisted that although her first husband had abused her, Hank had never hit her. Neither Ian nor Abigail believed these assurances.
Giving to be forgiven: Alms in the Bible
In the Bible, forgiveness involves repayment of what is owed. One way to pay down the debt is through charity to the poor.
Liberal arts for Muslims: Scott Korb on Zaytuna College
"The school believes that there is no way for Islam to grow in this country unless Muslims build institutions that approach the culture with openness."
In the piazza: Conversational witness in Rome
Believers and nonbelievers alike are often reticent to talk about religion. Yet many people long for such conversations.
The Protestant
The Protestant was sitting alone at a table in the far corner. I assumed it was because no one else spoke Protestant.
The logic of the holy: Robert Bellah, 1927–2013
“Time in its aging course teaches all things,” wrote Aeschylus. No one learned more from it than Robert Bellah.
Books
Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers, by Daniel Ellsberg
Daniel Ellsberg was a hard-line cold warrior employee at the Pentagon, but a two-year stint in Vietnam with the State Department made him skeptical about the outcome of the war and critical of the ...
The Republic of Rock, by Michael J. Kramer
During the Vietnam War, San Francisco was the center of antiwar protest and the counterculture....
Thomas Aquinas, by Denys Turner
The many biographies of Thomas Aquinas range from the popular and hagiographic to the scholarly. But all writers on the saint agree that Thomas was notoriously reticent about his own life....
Health and wealth
Kate Bowler chronicles how millions of Americans came to see not just wealth but also health as a birthright of the born again.
Ethics of Liberation, by Enrique Dussel
Enrique Dussel’s Ethics of Liberation might well seem too theoretical and too filled with jargon to merit attention in these pages....
Pub Theology, by Bryan Berghoef
Once when I was playing darts with some locals in a tavern, I scored a bull’s-eye, and another player shouted, “Tobias, you’re pure evil!” Immediately tapping my inner Augustine, I responded, “Does...
Departments
Two faiths, one shrine
Shared holy places might puzzle American or European Christians. In the rest of the world, religions have rarely enjoyed such a monopoly.
What is it like to be a creature?
We don’t know which experiences specify our humanity. But the Abrahamic faiths agree that we are made of dust and ashes, a bit of clay or a mere clot.
Book fare
I think and convey ideas more clearly at a desk with a pen in hand than I do on my feet in front of a group of listeners. That’s why books about writing and reading occupy much of my time.
“I Have a Dream” / Martin Luther King, Jr., by Pamela Chatterton-Purdy
Visionaries, martyrs and activists are featured in Pamela Chatterton-Purdy’s Icons of the Civil Rights Movement....
Oscar’s last day
Fruitvale Station is a powerful, meditative exploration of one ordinary life that met an extraordinary and tragic end.
McWages
Fast-food workers think they deserve $15 an hour. If it looks like they are overreaching, that's just because they're so woefully underpaid now.
News
Insurance gap looms for small churches
An effort to tweak President Obama’s health-care reform bill to fill a gap for church health insurance plans could fail because of Republicans’ insistence on repealing the law....
Assemblies of God posts impressive numbers
The Assemblies of God, a denomination rooted in rural and small town America, appears to have leaped into the 21st century in a dramatic way....
Evangelical ‘messy middle’ is more accepting of gays
A new voice is emerging in the evangelical community, one that is turning away from the church’s vocal opposition to homosexuality in favor of a more tolerant attitude....
Robert Bellah, influential religion scholar, dies at 86
Robert N. Bellah, an eminent sociologist of religion most remembered for defining the interplay of U.S....
Presbyterians stir debate by omitting popular hymn
Fans of a beloved contemporary Christian hymn won’t find any satisfaction in a new church hymnal....
Zambian chief touts adult circumcision
Jonathan Eshiloni Mumena will eagerly tell you about his ivory Star of David ring and the Texas flag on his tie. But Mumena’s real passion has recently turned to advocacy for adult circumcision to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS....
Two Catholics featured at hearing on poverty
Sister Simone Campbell, the face of the Nuns on the Bus tours, and Rep....