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This issue contains an important article on a region unfamiliar to many of us—the turbulent Muslim countries of central Asia that border Afghanistan—and two thoughtful essays on topics theological types often avoid—market economics and the practices of American corporations. All of the articles serve as reminders of the complex challenges and dangers before us.

The immediate future, for Christians at least, is characterized by the traditional liturgical designation “Eastertide.” My Presbyterian calendar dropped the “tide” and simply calls the season Easter.