

Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
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The consolation of studying theology
Theological education is precarious, inconvenient, and uncomfortable. So why do students keep enrolling?
From seminary classroom to encampment
Students protesting the war in Gaza are asking deep questions about colonialism, antisemitism, and Christian Zionism.
Facing theological ed’s existential crisis
Four schools and the creative paths they’re charting
The surprising gift of knowing my vocation
How I became the kind of person who wants to do the work to which she’s called.
Long before I sat in Senate hearing rooms listening to witness testimony, I sat in lecture halls at Yale listening to professors dissect Paul.
by Chris Coons
In divinity school, professors engaged my heart and mind—and began the process of helping me figure out what I believed and whether it was important enough to give my life to it.
I enjoyed Michelle Boorstein's piece of reporting on M. Div. students who aren't headed for parish ministry. She details how some seminarians seek to be ministers of a sort as part of their calling to other vocations; she also touches on the challenges of post-Christendom pastoring and the need for more flexible and affordable paths through seminary.
It’s time for bold, creative experiments in preparing women and men for the unique challenges of 21st-century ministry.
The idea that students will reside on a campus and attend classes at specified times seems increasingly quaint.
For all their problems, churches are often a good deal more self-critical and boldly innovative than seminaries.
I entered divinity school assuming that Christians ought to believe something is seriously wrong with the world. But I also loved the world.
Emily Scott had an idea: what if young adults got together for a weekly agape feast? Soon St. Lydia’s was born--but Scott was not ordained.
Vanderbilt was not the first school to offer theological education in a prison. But it did pioneer the approach of having seminarians learn in company with prisoners.
When I first came to Harvard, the weekly
worship service was recognizably Protestant but flexible and welcoming. Over the years, our students have urged us toward
new ways of gathering.
I wasn't sure how many people I would find at our first weekly Eucharist
of the term. Driving was impossible, even if one mustered the will to
dig out one's car for the third time in three weeks.