Mercy Seat spends about $27,000 a year on the arts—a quarter of its annual budget. At those rates, the church is one of the better-paying gigs in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Some post-worship-war churches revel in musical eclecticism. Others have a singular approach and sound, rendering the terms traditional and contemporary irrelevant.
I'm particularly eager for Advent this year. Perhaps it's because recent world events have been so relentlessly grim.
Church leaders can appreciate the challenges that St. Paul's has faced. Yet there is something profoundly right about a moral protest in a cathedral courtyard.
Darkness does not come from a different place than light; it is not presided over by a different God.
Once upon a time—and not long ago—there was another Europe. The religious story of communist Europe, in which Christians suffered horrific persecutions, is forgotten by most Americans today.
Rethinking Poverty, by James P. Bailey
James Bailey has written a superb, creative and timely book whose primary audience should be the U.S. Congress. Unfortunately, the current members of Congress do not seem to possess the intellectual wattage necessary to profit from it.
From Disgust to Humanity, by Martha C. Nussbaum
Martha Nussbaum's perspective cuts to the heart of our tendency to exclude others when they fail to live up to expectations about how "good people" should be.
Generous forgiveness
In Justice in Love, Nicholas Wolterstorff rejects egoism, eudaemonism and utilitarianism as inadequate ways to think about the practice of well-being.
Melancholia
Lars von Trier has been churning out grim tales of human frailty and moral depravity for almost 20 years. His latest is a disturbing tale of personal pain juxtaposed with an eerie end-of-the-world story.
Take Shelter
Take Shelter deals with the end of the world in a creepier and even more metaphoric manner than von Trier's Melancholia.