Latest Articles
The hope I’ve arrived at
I used to put a positive spin on everything. The effort didn’t serve my children—or my own heart.
Inside a church’s implosion
Eliza Griswold profiles a progressive evangelical church that sought to do things differently but fell prey to the usual problems.
Readers Write
The Century invites readers to submit first-person narratives inspired by the word Source.
September 22, Ordinary 25B (Mark 9:30–37)
Rather than rebuke the disciples, Jesus takes a little child by the hand.
Gods who make worlds
By definition, epic fantasy involves a world with a creator. Tad Williams’s Osten Ard is the best since Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
A preacher’s (well-bridled) tongue (James 3:1-12)
When is a pastor obliged to speak about their own theological shifts? Or obliged not to?
A posture of hope
No, everything is not fine. But we can help each other envision a better way.
Written by the oppressor, sung by the oppressed
James Walvin traces a beloved American hymn on its winding journey across racial divisions through the centuries.
How can a congregation change its culture?
It helps to focus less on structure and instead envision the church as an organism.
Which church is dying?
The church of empire might be. But I’m not ready to call time of death on the mystical body of Christ.
September 15, Ordinary 24B (James 3:1–12)
As a preacher, I used to worry that people don’t listen to me. Now I worry that they do.
Finding ourselves in a Nigerian war novel
Chigozie Obioma offers a narrative that transcends bullets and politics.
Can Jesus lose an argument? (Mark 7:24-37)
In Mark 7, a Syrophoenician woman is apparently able to win one with him.