Sufjan Stevens’s ghosts
For a songwriter steeped in grief and religion, learning to live with what he’s lost may be its own kind of faith.
In which nothing is reckoned with
Barth’s refusal
Books
Reading the Bible as if trans lives depended on it
The settlers didn’t just seize land—they remade religion
Trending topics: Hunger horror
The holy resilience of Gisèle Pelicot
In This Issue
Are both parties to blame?
November 8, Ordinary 32A (Joshua 24:1–3a, 14–25)
Reading the Bible as if trans lives depended on it
Voices
Stephanie Perdew
Chasing shinies in a secular age
Is Pokémon GO a late-capitalist venture in re-enchanting the world?
Phil Christman
The politics of cutting people off
Political breakups aren’t some new low in American life. They’re an understandable response to stakes that have always been life and death.
Julian DeShazier
Rebirth pangs
Where something has died, something else must now be born. It’s not going to be fun.
Benjamin J. Dueholm
Church gossip and a pastor’s double life
I’m obligated to a high standard of confidentiality. I also find the stories on social media hard to resist.
Brian Bantum
My prayer for soldiers
I looked up to see a line of 50 kids in uniform boarding the plane. Every one of them had brown skin like mine.
Peter Choi
A gospel of belonging in Korea
It’s my first time here in decades, and I have been struck by the depth of relational intimacy on display everywhere I go.
Politics
Barth’s refusal
The settlers didn’t just seize land—they remade religion
