stories
Serene Jones’s memoir poses as many theological questions as answers
Theology is story, and Jones is a rousing storyteller.
At Gilead Church in Chicago, storytelling is central to worship
It's like a MOTH event—with the vulnerability of community.
Bedrock story
The exiled people of Judah turned to their stories—and found the belief that God would save them as before. Centuries later, Christians did the same.
Stories of my childhood
All I remember from The Magic Stones is the image of a young man, some stones and blocks, and an experiment revealing the most perfect shape.
The room in the firehouse
I went to a meeting with a friend yesterday. Many of the speakers were wry and funny, but their stories were awful.
Biblically challenged: Overcoming scriptural illiteracy
A 2007 Kelton Research survey revealed that people know more about what goes into a Big Mac than they do about the Bible; they can name members of the Brady Bunch better than they can name the Ten Commandments. Twelve percent of adults think that Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark, and about half don’t know that the book of Isaiah is in the Old Testament. The situation might have comic possibilities for Jay Leno and other comedians, but for preachers working to craft a biblically based sermon, the situation is confounding. If parishioners can’t follow references to significant people, places or things in the Bible, they may miss or misunderstand the whole message.