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As common sense dictates, an insurance company needs a good percentage of healthy people in order to do well. Why would our insurance plan give incentives to retirement-age clergy to work longer while making it cost more for clergy with dependents?

I cherish Thanksgiving for its cultural institutionalization of the practice of gratitude. And because there are no gifts and few cards.

I've mentioned before that some of the language in the administrative screens for Drupal—the open-source software that runs this website—always makes me laugh.

New today from the Century: John Buchanan on gratitude, Laura Kelly Fanucci on people-watching at church, more.

Scholars traveling to Chicago for the joint AAR–SBL meeting will have to make hard decisions—beginning with where to lay their heads.

My sister went to St. Olaf; I went to Wheaton. The differences are many--she chose Olaf after hearing both orchestras--but one that's always struck me is the fact that she was able to study world religions with tenure-track professors who actually practice them. I was not, because Wheaton requires faculty to sign a statement of faith--a model that has upsides but also pretty serious downsides. I have no problem with people of faith who maintain, in a pluralistic world, that their particular tradition offers something crucial and unique. I am one. But when it comes to learning about another faith tradition, given the option why would you want to learn from someone who isn't personally invested in it?

Earlier this year, the Century published a piece by an environmental scientist on just how radical the current shift in CO2 levels are—from the perspective of 50 million years. As I was working with that scientist, Lee Vierling, on the piece, we struggled to find a language that he and I and readers of the Century could share. He wanted something that was fluid and scientifically absolutely accurate. He also wanted to be certain that he was not using scare tactics.

New today from the Century: Lillian Daniel on AAR-SBL and the Hyatt boycott, Bruce Epperly reviews Living the Questions, more.

This is the third time I've said goodbye to a congregation. I should know how by now, but I'm still overwhelmed by the emotional awkwardness.