Features
Grace hurts: Conversion in Flannery O’Connor’s fiction
O'Connor's artistic signature involved a severity of image, dark-as-night humor, and a relentless preoccupation with sacramental violence.
Temperature rising: Climate crises in Africa
Climate change will bring a laundry list of catastrophes to Africa. Across the continent, people are trying to adapt to the changing weather.
Neighbors in Christ: Global Christianity in the city
Many cities contain an almost fully representative presence of world Christianity. These are new laboratories for global Christian unity.
Talking points: Disciples vote on pro-gay resolution
I sometimes envy my colleagues whose denominations have already fought this issue out, voted and moved on. We Disciples don't work that way.
Books
Amity and Sorrow, by Peggy Riley
Amaranth is the first of Zachariah’s 50 wives, who live together with their children in a compound hidden in the mountains. When she married Zachariah, she was adrift and he was irresistible.
What Christianity Is Not, by Douglas John Hall
If we're to take a negative route to reach a positive outcome, we will need an experienced and thoughtful guide. Few are better equipped for this task than Douglas John Hall.
Protestant bibliophiles
What we read matters. But what should we read? Matthew Hedstrom describes Protestant angst amid the information overload of the early 20th century.
Departments
The preachers’ daughters
I wanted to hate Preachers' Daughters without reserve. But the reality of this reality show proves more complicated than the scripts.
Boxed in
Benedict instructed that a novice's street clothes should be kept. Every morning for the rest of his life, the monk confronted two habits.
Stories for dinner
My wife I took our annual summer trip to Oklahoma, and as usual we visited a host of relatives. Among the deceased relatives I keenly miss on these trips are my grandparents....
Sunday morning blues
I support my church's requirement that retired clergy stay away. But nobody warned me how much I would miss all this—or if they did, I wasn't listening.
Us liberals
In discussions of Protestantism's winners and losers, what often gets lost is how much both liberals and conservatives have changed internally.
The Parable of the Lost Coin, by Domenico Fetti (1589–1624)
A woman searches for a lost coin in a dark room. The frantic nature of her search is displayed by the overturned furniture and the clothing strewn across the floor....
News
Same-gender marriage becomes legal in England and Wales
England and Wales became the 16th and 17th countries in the world to recognize gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave “royal assent” to a same-sex marriage bill....
Moderate churches face a particular challenge
New research predicting the rise of religious progressives and a conservative decline presents a challenge to those in the middle, including moderate Baptists, according to some leading Baptist and other Christian activists and thinkers....
Disciples’ broad welcome to gays is not a change in policy, says leader
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) approved a resolution at its recent general assembly in Orlando, Florida, that called upon its churches to affirm that no grounds exist to bar Christians from fellowship or service within congregations be...
Evangelicals critical of ‘silence’ on sexual abuse
More than 1,200 people have signed an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches....
Lutherans merge seminary, university on West Coast
Though the two campuses are 400 miles apart, California Lutheran University in Southern California will merge with the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley....
Gettysburg museum looks at faith roles in Civil War
When Confederate soldiers bore down on Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863, a quiet seminary building atop a ridge was transformed—first into a Union lookout, then a field hospital for 600 wounded soldiers....
Pope Francis changes Catholic Church’s tone on homosexuality
With his open and easygoing manner, Pope Francis charmed the media as much as the faithful during his visit to Brazil, the first international pilgrimage of his pontificate....
Prominent American Jews embrace Mideast peace talks
More than 100 prominent Jewish Americans with varying religious and political viewpoints have thrown their support behind the Israeli government’s decision to restart long-stalled peace talks with the Pa...
Anti-Semitism down overall, but is occurring online and at colleges
The Anti-Defamation League’s annual study of anti-Semitism in the U.S. shows a 14 percent decrease in incidents during 2012, the second consecutive year of a downward trend....
Reformist priest sees potential ally in pope
An Austrian priest who’s been banned from speaking at Roman Catholic churches during his three-week U.S....
Survey finds strength in religious left
A divide is developing in America about what it means to be a religious person, with a majority believing that it’s about acting morally but a strong minority equating it with faith and the right beliefs...
Christians in Sudan face increased hostility
Despite a promise by the Sudanese government to grant its minority Christian population religious freedom, church leaders there said they are beset by increased restrictions and hostility in the wake of ...