Slaughter in East Timor

by Philip Jenkins

For decades, Western human rights groups sounded the alarm about East Timor. Rarely did they note the religious dimension.

Dress code

Case by case

narrative by Ellen Blue, response by Cynthia A. Jarvis

The pastor seemed happy to meet Evan, and he said positive things about his work for the Calvary Center. Then he noticed Evan's yarmulke.

All nature sings

by John M. Buchanan

I have come to understand that incarnation says at least as much about the world, nature and humankind as it does about God.

Couplets of kindness

by Rachel Stone

It's easy to write off David Rakoff's novel in verse as a cliché. But Rakoff was master enough of his craft that his rhymes lapse into doggerel only when he chooses.

Slaughter in East Timor

Dress code

Case by case

All nature sings

Couplets of kindness

Thursday digest

Dec 19, 2013

New today from the Century: Philip Jenkins on the conflict in East Timor, Carol Howard Merritt on the church and the body, more.

Blogging Toward Christmas: New people

John 1:1–14

Dec 19, 2013 by Daniel Harrell

I returned to seminary a few years back to hear a professor teach John’s gospel as a remake of the Genesis narrative. The parallel between Genesis 1 and John 1 is obvious, but if you press forward, the connections run throughout.

The way of all flesh

Dec 19, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

As the sun rose, I drove twenty-seven miles to my office at the little church in the Cajun swamps. Even though visitors to the office were rare, I showed up on time each day. Though determined on my journey, I felt that familiar wave as I crossed the bayou. I eased my car to the gravelly side of the road. I stood, stretched. Breathed deeply.

Why I love to say “Happy Holidays”

Dec 18, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

It's almost Christmas. And do you know what that means? It’s time for the majority religion in our country to trot out our annual imaginary martyrdoms.

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The way of all flesh

Dec 19, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

As the sun rose, I drove twenty-seven miles to my office at the little church in the Cajun swamps. Even though visitors to the office were rare, I showed up on time each day. Though determined on my journey, I felt that familiar wave as I crossed the bayou. I eased my car to the gravelly side of the road. I stood, stretched. Breathed deeply.

Why I love to say “Happy Holidays”

Dec 18, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

It's almost Christmas. And do you know what that means? It’s time for the majority religion in our country to trot out our annual imaginary martyrdoms.

The image of God and the little pink pill

Dec 14, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

I grew up along the beaches of Florida and couldn’t get enough of that pounding on the sand. I swam against the tide and rolled with the force of the water. I loved the feeling of getting caught up in the turmoil of the waves until I didn’t know which way was up.

Always root for the human

Dec 13, 2013 by Carol Howard Merritt

One of the most fun films I saw this year was World’s End—the final installment of the trilogy that included Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

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This blog is going on paternity leave

Nov 23, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

So, I'm a dad, and I'm taking paternity leave. It'll be several weeks before I'm posting regularly again.

Also today: Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday

Nov 22, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

While my life and mind have been shaped by both American evangelicalism and political liberalism, I feel little personal connection to either C. S. Lewis or John F. Kennedy. Like a lot of people, I have mixed feelings about both men; perhaps more importantly, I wasn't around yet when they died. In any case, neither anniversary made me catch my breath this week.

Here's what did: Benjamin Britten's 100th birthday.

Dylan, solidarity and the reign of Christ

Nov 13, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

A week from Sunday, on the Feast of the Reign of Christ, Holy Covenant UMC in Chicago—where I work part time as a musician—is holding its second annual service spotlighting the music of Bob Dylan. (Not calling it a Dylancharist.) If you're in Chicago the evening of 11/24, come out and join us.

Below is the piece I wrote for the church newsletter.

Another thing about Jennifer Graham's weird piece on millennials

Nov 12, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

When it comes to weirdly argued crankiness, tsk-tsk-ing about lazy, entitled millennials is a pretty competitive field. But Jennifer Graham's piece last week stands out from the pack:

In colonial times, nine out of 10 people worked on food production, hence John Smith’s famous edict at Jamestown: “He who works not, eats not.” (There was no enabling 99-cent value menu then.) The millennials, alas, are trophy kids, a generation spawned not for their usefulness at harvest but because they look so precious in those matching pajamas from Hanna Andersson.

No need to respond to most of this, because in the millennial retort category—another tough bracket—we already have a winner.

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Awaiting the gift

Dec 17, 2013 by Martha-Lynn Corner

Advent is a season you grow into. 

Like holding God's hand

Dec 17, 2013 by David Williams

When you bring kids up front in a worship service, it's a bit like opening your sanctuary to a band of foraging raccoons. 

Sorry, Megyn Kelly, Jesus wasn't white—and thank God

Dec 13, 2013 by Adam J. Copeland

This week, Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, in a segment about the race of Santa Claus, reported a bomb shell. No, it wasn’t that this Christmas, in support of Obama’s socialist policies, not just Rudolph’s nose but his entire face will be painted red.

There is a place where the police apologize when they kill an armed man.

Dec 11, 2013 by James W. McCarty III

And that place is Iceland. On December 2 the police in Iceland shot and killed a man for the first time since it became an independent republic in 1944.

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Ministry in the 21st century

What is pastoral ministry like these days, and how is it being shaped in new ways? The Century talked to pastors about the challenges and surprises of their early years in ministry.





Features

Cultivating a holy imagination

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 13, 2013 An interview with Lisa Yebuah

"I eventually realized that leaders are not made by books or workshops," says Lisa Yebuah of Edenton Street United Methodist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Leaders are people who marry their knowledge to action."
Features

Urban experiments

Ministry in the 21st century

Jan 11, 2013 | An interview with Nanette Sawyer

"I've been given an opportunity to color outside the lines," says Nanette Sawyer of Grace Commons and St James Presbyterian Church in Chicago, "the permission and charge to be creative and experimental."
Features

Fusing justice and holiness

Ministry in the 21st century

Nov 29, 2012 | An interview with Dennis Sanders

"Progressive Christians do a good job with issues like LGBT rights," says Dennis Sanders of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. "But we're less good at helping people become disciples of Jesus."
Features

Training in Jesus’ way

Ministry in the 21st century

Aug 14, 2012  | An interview with Todd Friesen

"Jesus calls us to make disciples, not just converts," says Todd Friesen of Lombard Mennonite Church in Illinois. "I believe that discipleship begins in communal worship."
Features

A foundation for relationships

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 13, 2012 | An interview with Joyce Shin

"More than ever, people are building interfaith marriages," says Joyce Shin of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. "Too often, religion is seen as an impediment to this instead of as a resource."
Features

Organizing for communion

Ministry in the 21st century

Mar 14, 2012 | An interview with Isaac S. Villegas

“I like to think I’m a grassroots organizer," says Isaac S. Villegas of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship. "I rearrange pews; I find people to make sloppy joes for hungry people.”
Features

Faithful reinvention

Ministry in the 21st century

Feb 15, 2012 | An interview with Scott Kershner

"Religious commitments are no longer taken for granted as part of North American people's lives," says Scott Kershner of Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington State. "So space opens up to ask very basic and interesting questions."
Features

Entrepreneurial idealism

Ministry in the 21st century

Nov 30, 2011 | An interview with Carol Howard Merritt

"What would happen," asks Carol Howard Merritt of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., "if we coupled baby boomers' prophetic focus with the pragmatism of my generation? What if the church unleashed us to plant churches?"
Features

Pastor as witness

Ministry in the 21st century

Sep 22, 2011 | An interview with Kevin J. Long

"It doesn't happen every day," says Kevin J. Long of Orchard Park Presbyterian Church in suburban Indianapolis. "But it is thrilling to see someone begin to grasp the good news of Jesus Christ."
Features

Bearing testimony

Ministry in the 21st century

Jul 28, 2011 | An interview with Katherine Willis Pershey

"People need to hear the good news," says Katherine Willis Pershey of First Congregational Church in Western Springs, Illinois. "If the church doesn't take on this mission, I'm afraid—well, that's where that sentence can end. I'm afraid."
Cover Story

Deeper history

Ministry in the 21st century

Jun 20, 2011 | An interview with Josh Carney

"We have rejected much of our immediate [evangelical] past," says Josh Carney of his church, University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Looking to older traditions, "we found that some of our objections had already been addressed."
more