Features
Helping theology matter: A challenge for the mainline
Several years ago, in the midst of one of its well-publicized battles about sex, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) proclaimed, "Theology matters." At first glance, this was a slogan to warm the heart of a theologian. But then I started to wonder why our denomination even had to say such a thing. After all, theology means thinking about our faith, and for Christians our faith ought to lie at the core of our lives. So why wouldn't theology matter?
Books
Against free trade
By Patrick J. Buchanan, The Great Betrayal: How American Sovereignty and Social Justice Are Being Sacrificed to the Gods of the Global Economy. (Little, Brown, 384 pp.)...
Departments
Punishment for sin
A little ideology can be just what the political strategist ordered....
Affirming affirmative action
The aim of affirmative-action programs, which give preference to blacks and other minorities in matters of employment and school admissions, is to bring underrepresented groups into the mainstream of American life....
Congregation of coots
My study, where I read and write and pray, is set on a cliff overlooking a mountain lake. Each morning I sit at my window and watch the lake fill up with light. It is a quiet place and spacious....
Going to the chapel
Nostalgia and paradox seem to have nothing in common. Nostalgia is a single-minded devotion to a romanticized image of the past. Paradox, being double-minded, cannot describe anything in one-sided terms....