

Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2023 The Christian Century.
One form of ancient instruction was paraenesis, which lists various rules without a clear outline or progression of thought.
Meritocracy’s trail of humiliation
Michael Sandel considers some alternatives.
The crumbling myth of American exceptionalism
To believe that moral values and virtuous leadership are self-enforcing is to fool ourselves.
Why human rights and global ethics are inadequate concepts
In a globalized world, Michael Ignatieff argues, grand moral values have failed. What's left is virtue.
by Samuel Wells
Is forbearance amid disagreement a Christian virtue?
We should forebear one another—not to ensure church unity, but because God forebears us.
A cure for liberalism?
John Milbank & Adrian Pabst consider Western society’s many problems and offer a prescription: virtue.
by Samuel Wells
The virtues we need in a post-truth world
Telling the truth requires more than right thinking. It requires being a particular sort of person.
This provocative book portrays hope as a virtue, a moral orientation that can be cultivated actively, a matter of will.
Human sexuality is fraught, particularly when mixed with the complexities of culture, religion, patriarchy, and adolescence.
The Enlightenment view of autonomous human subjects is built into the law, so the criminal justice system floats on myths and superstitions.
Are science and religion enemies or friends? Neither, says Peter Harrison—but they're both forms of virtue.
by Jeff Levin
Virtue, says former senator John Danforth, is what's missing from the current political equation—and the church is a place where virtue can be taught and advocated.
If vainglory is about stealing glory from God, it is unintelligible outside the house of faith. This may explain why Rebecca DeYoung's book flows against the current of attempts to reclaim narcissism and pride.
reviewed by Valerie Weaver-Zercher
So much religious talk is about naming, about describing a general reality in particular terms. This is important. But in our increasingly secular culture, it’s always striking when someone gets at deep religious truth without bothering with religious language.
For instance, Jay Smooth offers a pretty crisp explication here of the nature of sin and virtue.
What makes kindness a distinctive mark of the new creation?
The pastor was prepared for questions about the Transfiguration. Instead, one first grader asked, "what does 'obviously' mean?"