Features
What is marriage now? A Pauline case for same-sex marriage
"It is better to marry than to burn," says Paul. This strange, embarrassing passage may offer some ground for fresh discernment.
Watershed disciples: Studying the local landscape
As people respond to the needs of their particular place, they are also shaping the experiences of people elsewhere.
Making payroll: Nonprofits and the minimum wage
In the movement to raise the minimum wage, fast food mega-corporations make the perfect villains. But they aren't the only low-wage employers.
Winning souls to the polls: A fight against North Carolinas voting barriers
In North Carolina, civil rights leaders are focused on the one political issue that undergirds all others: the right to vote.
Books
Praying strings
I gobble books by musicians. Bruce Cockburn's memoir has more virtues than most.
The road to Heller
Michael Waldman traces the Second Amendment's life, from militias to the NRA to the newfound right to have handguns at home.
Sex and the Spirit, by Verlee A. Copeland and Dale B. Rosenberger
The mainline has struggled to express an ethics or spirituality of sexuality. Verlee Copeland and Dale Rosenberger seek to fill that gap.
Paul and the Faithfulness of God, by N. T. Wright
N.T. Wright aims to show how Paul's story of the crucified and risen Messiah is at the same time the story of Israel rescued from extended exile.
American Protestants and the Debate over the Vietnam War, by George Bogaski
Through analysis of denominational statements about what is arguably the most debated military conflict in recent U.S. history, George Bogaski produces an illuminating, if also unvarnished, story.
Dancing on the Head of a Pen, by Robert Benson
Robert Benson is a guide for people who don't know how to get from a blank page to a pile of pages called a book.
Departments
Marriage equality
I have carried the burden of knowing that our church contributed to a man's death when we refused him the open acceptance, love, and support that he needed.
Lost in a sermon
I can see my dad's manuscript: the title centered in caps, the body double-spaced and marked up by hand. But I can't remember the words.
The future is Filipino
In January, Pope Francis will visit the Philippines. By 2050, there could be 100 million Catholics there.
Five Books of Moses, by Carole P. Kunstadt
The viewer engages anew with the Hebrew Bible through Carole P. Kunstadt’s manuscript blocks. “The text and illustrations remain hidden with no access to the actual contents of the book,” notes Kunstadt....
Crimes on the home front
Christopher Foyle has a deep sense of right and wrong. Foyle's War offers both moral clarity and moral complexity.
Intimate dangers
Almost a third of Protestant pastors think domestic violence is not a problem in their congregations. They're wrong.
News
Seminary faculty, dean at impasse
Nearly the entire full-time faculty at the Episcopal Church’s oldest seminary is battling with the school’s leadership, although the sides do not agree on whether the professors quit, were fired, or staged a walkout....
On Supreme Court docket: Beards, church signage, and Jerusalem
A Christian pastor in Arizona, a Muslim prisoner in Arkansas, and an 11-year-old Jewish boy born in Jerusalem will present the Supreme Court with three chances in the next few months to rule on cases with religious overtones....
Reformed megachurch, seminary to launch NYC campus
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, led by author and speaker Tim Keller, has partnered with a nondenominational Reformed seminary to form a campus in New York City in 2015....
Muslim scholars challenge ‘Islamic State’ in open letter
More than 120 Muslim scholars from around the world endorsed an open letter to the “fighters and followers” of the so-called Islamic State, denouncing them as un-Islamic in the most Islamic of terms....
Nigeria braces for elections amid Muslim-Christian rifts and Boko Haram threat
(The Christian Science Monitor) Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has its largest economy....
Lectionary
Sunday, November 9, 2014: Matthew 25:1-13
I understand the story better now than when I was I kid, but I still have the feeling that the foolish virgins were framed.
Sunday, November 2, 2014: All Saints (Revelation 7:9-17)
Not all endings are bad.