Features
The weave
The fifth-grade team had been coached since the Council of Trent by Mr. Torrens, whose idea of offense consisted of one utterly useless play.
Biblical farce
Esther's story would be infuriating if it wasn't so over-the-top ridiculous.
Peter W. Marty named publisher of the Christian Century
The Century's new publisher is Peter W. Marty, author of The Anatomy of Grace and senior pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa.
Las bandas niños: A Latino church empowers young musicians
Iglesia Hispana Emanuel has about 100 members. José Guillermo Salamea is teaching some 40 of them how to play an instrument.
Names with faces: An ID card turns strangers into neighbors
A lack of ID caused problems for immigrants—as well as for the police who encountered them. Through a series of dialogues, a solution emerged.
Voices
Stephanie Paulsell
Fluent in God’s work
Learning a language requires us to focus our attention on something outside ourselves. It's a lot like learning to pray.
Philip Jenkins
The saint of Karachi
The title character of Mohammed Hanif's novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a Catholic nurse in Pakistan. Turning the other cheek is not her strong suit.
Books
Redeeming the Great Emancipator, by Allen C. Guelzo
Although it is anachronistic to put it this way, the subtext of this reappraisal of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator is the question, “Do black lives matter?” That question put to Lincoln doesn’t y...
After We Die, by Stephen T. Davis
The Nicene Creed concludes with resurrection and eternal life. But, Stephen Davis observes, neither reality can be proved by experience.
The Hungry Mind, by Susan Engel
Wonder is an essential disposition for Christian discipleship. According to Susan Engel, children learn to wonder by asking questions and receiving answers.
Inside the other side
Violence seems to have permeated every dimension of our common life and our imagination. Jonathan Sacks offers a wise response.
Teaching Plato in Palestine, by Carlos Fraenkel
Fraenkel taught philosophy to Palestinian youth, Muslims in Indonesia, Hasidic Jews in New York, teens in Brazil, and indigenous people in Canada....
Departments
Fluent in God’s work
Learning a language requires us to focus our attention on something outside ourselves. It's a lot like learning to pray.
The saint of Karachi
The title character of Mohammed Hanif's novel Our Lady of Alice Bhatti is a Catholic nurse in Pakistan. Turning the other cheek is not her strong suit.
Judson Arts Wednesdays at Judson Memorial Church, New York City
Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan has a long history of commitment to the arts, and every Wednesday it opens its doors to artists, declaring: “Art can be prophetic. Art can be useless. Art can be sacred. Art can be irreverent. Art can be cheap....
Redeeming Star Wars
"What was the point of that movie?" my son asked, without hostility. He knew that what he'd seen was about more than what he'd seen.
The same God?
Can the word God be separated from the particular tradition by which God is known? Christians have long answered this question both ways.
News
Japanese prime minister, party leaders seek policies that revive Shinto religion
(The Christian Science Monitor) Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s deep adoration for the Ise Grand Shrine, the most sacred Shinto site in Japan, is no secret....
Marvin McMickle and James Forbes Jr. speak at first-ever cross-racial gathering to tackle racism
Marvin McMickle, president of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, was one of the speakers at a conference that brought together more than 300 clergy and community leaders to address race relations....
American Muslims work to counter backlash
(The Christian Science Monitor) Muslim leaders in the United States are mounting a multifaceted campaign to counter Islamophobia....
Kenyan Muslims protect Christian fellow passengers when militants attack bus
Christian and Muslim leaders in Kenya praised a group of Muslims who shielded Christians after gunmen ambushed a passenger bus....
Politics threaten plans for historic gathering of Orthodox churches
A religious summit last held more than 1,200 years ago is now in jeopardy because of Syria’s civil war....
Professor suspended for saying Christians, Muslims 'worship the same God'
A Wheaton College professor has been placed on leave because, in explaining why she wanted to show solidarity with Muslims by wearing an Islamic headscarf, she wrote that Muslims and Christians worship the same God....
Jacques Mourad, priest who survived ISIS: "My interfaith work saved my life"
Jacques Mourad, a Syriac Catholic priest who survived being held hostage for months by militants from the self-described Islamic State, is certain that his interfaith work saved his life....
Russian Orthodox Church says military intervention in Syria is a 'holy war'
(The Christian Science Monitor) For many in the West, the idea that a church would take an overtly hawkish stance in the conflict in Syria is an utterly foreign concept....
Lectionary
February 7, Transfiguration Sunday: Luke 9:28-43a
What might change if we could see something up there greater than the suffering world below? If we could get a glimpse of heaven, we would have proof—an experience that we could refer back to for the rest of our lives.
January 31, Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30
The writer of Luke may be challenging his readers to accept even those whom the oppressed might reject, but Paul reminds us to act with love in all things.
January 24, Third Sunday after the Epiphany: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Luke 4:14-21
In this week’s Gospel reading, many people praise Jesus’ teaching—until he claims that he is the fulfillment of the scripture he reads. It is difficult for American Christians to grasp how shocking Jesus’ announcement is to a first-century synagogue.