Articles by John M. Buchanan

Editor's Desk

Grace note

Apr 11, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

Harvey Cox chose the title of a revival hymn for the title of his memoir, Just As I Am. Cox’s journey, which led him to the Harvard faculty, began in a small Baptist church in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Editor's Desk

Left behind

The education challenge

Mar 21, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

A week or so after President Bush assured the nation that education would continue to be one of his top priorities and that no child would be left behind, I had an extended conversation with the principal of an elementary school in the middle of Cabrini-Green. Cabrini is the housing project on the near north side of Chicago. Constructed in the ’60s, Cabrini once housed 20,000 people.

Editor's Desk

Expanding mystery

Mar 14, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

Many years ago, when I was struggling to balance the demands of divinity school and the need to produce a weekly sermon for a congregation that sat patiently and graciously through the efforts of its student pastor, I turned regularly to a little book with a catchy title, Your God Is Too Small, by J. B. Phillips.

Editor's Desk

Good manners

Feb 28, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

I once told a story from the pulpit about road rage that evoked as much response as anything I have ever said. I told about being in the left lane on Michigan Avenue and needing to move to the center lane and then the right lane in order to make a right turn at Chestnut. Simultaenously, a young woman in a BMW was moving from the far right lane to the center.

Editor's Desk

Flawed leaders

Feb 21, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

Jesse Jackson is a complicated man. He has been right on most issues most of the time, though certainly not all the time. No one is more eloquent on the topic of human rights, and no one more personally committed to the cause of justice for minority and marginalized people.

Editor's Desk

Overcoming division

Jan 03, 2001 by John M. Buchanan

Calendar purists insist that only now are we entering the 21st century, since 2000 was really the final year of the 20th century. Whichever it is, I entered this new year thinking a lot about the fractious divisiveness that seems so evident everywhere in the world, and about its reverse, the precious but fragile unity of the human family.

Editor's Desk

Keeping silence

Dec 06, 2000 by John M. Buchanan

I love Thanksgiving. It’s the one holiday the retail economy has not been able to capture. There is something authentic about a holiday that doesn’t require us to buy anything, but just invites us to gather our loved ones around a dinner table and be grateful. I am thankful for the annual opportunity to take stock and give expression to my gratitude.

Editor's Desk

In need of prayer

Nov 22, 2000 by John M. Buchanan

One of the theological puzzles with which I have struggled over the years is what the Puritans called “special providence”—that is, God’s miraculous intercession in human affairs in response to prayer. Every pastor knows the dilemma.

Editor's Desk

Clear callings

Nov 01, 2000 by John M. Buchanan

The reflection on vocation in this issue by Gilbert Meilaender takes us from Vergil’s epic, the Aeneid, to the Reformation era to the 20th century, with many stops in between. He prodded me, as I’m sure he will others, to think more deeply about their own sense of vocation.

Editor's Desk

Summer reading

Oct 11, 2000 by John M. Buchanan

Though neither of my parents had a college education, I learned from them the joy of reading. Our home was one in which the Sunday New York Times was divided and carefully passed back and forth, and the crossword puzzle was a shared project. Winston Churchill’s book on the Second World War was on the bookshelf, and so were Carl Sandburg’s volumes on Abraham Lincoln.

Editor's Desk

Preaching etc.

Sep 13, 2000 by John M. Buchanan

Forty years ago this month, I took a job as a student pastor in a small nondenominational church in a blue-collar community south of Chicago. I was a middler at the University of Chicago Divinity School–Chicago Theological Seminary, married with an infant daughter, and broke. The church offered $50 a week and a house with three bedrooms, bath and a real back yard.

Features

Chords of remembrance

A family’s commitment to public life

Jul 28, 1999 by John M. Buchanan

Now that we know his flaws, not many of us can romanticize John F. Kennedy or his presidency. And the glamour of the Kennedy clan has been tarnished considerably in recent years as scholars and reporters have pointed out its members' various shortcomings.

From the Editors

The next Christian century

Mar 03, 1999 by John M. Buchanan

This Magazine has been a friend and a resource for me for 35 years. It has stimulated my thinking, encouraged me professionally and personally, challenged my assumptions, introduced me to new movies, books and authors, pricked my conscience, made me smile and, on occasion, made me angry. Come to think of it, my Christian Century subscription has been one of the best bargains around.