Latest Articles
There’s Something about Mary Magdalene, with Elizabeth Schrader Polczer and Diana Butler Bass (S3:E1)
“What if the text was changed to suppress Mary Magdalene as not only the first witness of Jesus in John 20, but as the Christological confessor, which would make her a central character in the Gospel of John? Not one of several women, but a central character.”
We are all going to die
During my first several hours administering ashes as a hospital chaplain, I kept cringing.
A glimpse of the world beyond
In his new novella, Jon Fosse allows a luminous narrative to unfold at a dreamlike pace.
Ashes together (Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)
Praying in community is often more powerful than praying “in secret.”
February 18, Lent 1B (Mark 1:9–15)
Does Jesus hide from the wild beasts? Hurl rocks at them? Mark doesn’t say.
Ignorant of the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)
Sometimes it seems like the believers are the ones for whom the gospel is veiled.
The bones in God’s garden
Will my daffodil bulbs overcome their trauma and rise up despite the odds? Will we?
The case that revolutionized libel law
Samantha Barbas’s history of New York Times v. Sullivan shows how easy it was to weaponize the law against southern civil rights leaders.
February 14, Ash Wednesday (Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21)
How did my friend feel making a cross on my forehead, not knowing how long I’d be alive?
The theologically trained organizer
The most exciting horizons in theological education lie at its intersection with community organizing.
S3 Bonus Episode Back to the Desert: Mary of Egypt with Amy Frykholm
“As Christianity moved to an empire-based movement, women lost a lot of power. So it makes sense that they would have gone into the desert, looking for ways to pursue their path in Christianity in ways that allowed them greater freedom.”
The reality of deep solidarity
For Joerg Rieger, theology must account for global power dynamics, which are largely driven by capitalism.
Teaching ministry students to ask beautiful questions
Narrative practice offers an excellent resource for the work of pastoral care.
February 11, Transfiguration B (Mark 9:2–9)
What Peter, James, and John see on the mountain cannot be neatly packaged for resale.
The different people we are (1 Corinthians 9:16-23)
We are all like Paul, boasting to the Corinthian church about being all things to all people.
Metaphors for the spiritual life
I have been an onion peeler and an excavator. I hope God will form me into a bridge.
A landscape of lost denominations
In the US, church foundation stones tell a mostly forgotten story of religious and ethnic history.
An ambitious queer reading of John of the Cross
Miguel Díaz takes the medieval mystic’s sexual metaphors for spirituality seriously—along with the lived experience of LGBTQ people.