Magazine /

August 11, 2021

Volume 138, Issue #16
Download issue PDF ›
All back issues ›

Features

Restoring bicycles—and lives—in Memphis

Revolutions Bicycle Cooperative, a church-based bike shop with a social vision

by Elaine Blanchard

Interviews

The Naming Project is a Christian camp that celebrates LGBTQ teens as they are

“We ask questions like, who am I? Who did God make me to be?”

Clint Schnekloth interviews Ross Murray

Readers Write

Window: Essays by readers

We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “window.”

It takes faith to resist the attention economy

We need to relearn a capacity to dwell in God’s presence.

by Katherine Willis Pershey

Interviews

The dangers of providing pastoral care

Woundedness is the predictable price we pay for being sent on outrageous assignments by Jesus.

William H. Willimon and Stanley Hauerwas in conversation

Books

Can John Rawls help Christians understand justice?

Two new monographs provide religious entry points into the political philosopher’s thought.

by David Hoekema

An introduction to Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Michelle Duster situates her influential great-grandmother in the history of Black life in America.

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Georgetown was built on the backs of enslaved people

Reparations for their descendants are a necessary, imperfect beginning.

by Alexandra Greenwald

Departments

Faith Matters

The labor that pays my salary

Survival under capitalism makes demands on our flesh—and some of us have to pay more than others.

by Isaac S. Villegas

Screen Time

I can’t take my eyes off Jean Smart

In Hacks and Mare of Easttown, it’s thrilling to watch an aging woman on screen.

by Kathryn Reklis

First Words

The power of a swim-in

In 1964, Mimi Ford jumped into a pool—and changed the course of history.

by Peter W. Marty

On Art

Koson Door, by Gol Kamra (Dua Abbas and Jahanzeb Haroon)

Jahanzeb Haroon and Dua Abbas are a husband-and-wife duo based in Lahore, Pakistan. They work together under the name Gol Kamra (Urdu for “round room”), evoking a sense of domestic space as creative wellspring....

art selection and comment by Aaron Rosen

From the Editors

Voter suppression is lethal to democracy

We can’t let the filibuster keep us from doing something about it.

News

Haitian pastor arrested for role in assassination

The head of Haiti’s national police announced on July 11 that officers arrested a Haitian man accused of flying into the country on a private jet and working with the alleged assassins and masterminds behind the killing of President Jovenel Moïse....

by Dánica Coto and Ben Fox

Former Trump ambassador launches international religious freedom conference

Sam Brownback, former US ambassador for international religious freedom in the Trump administration, helped launch a conference on international religious freedom in Washington, DC, on July 13, bringing together an array of faith and political lea...

by Jack Jenkins

AME general conference votes to form committee to study LGBTQ issues

A day after its general conference voted down a bill that would have allowed clergy to perform same-sex marriages, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting in Orlando, Florida, passed a resolution on July 8 to appoint a sexual ethics discer...

by Kathryn Post

United Church of Christ declares racism a public health crisis

The United Church of Christ kicked off its “special edition” general synod on July 11 by passing a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis....

by Emily McFarlan Miller

Muslim leaders and activists tackle opposition to COVID-19 vaccines

Shaikh Rahman, a business systems analyst in Chicago and a Muslim, was not a proponent of COVID-19 vaccines because he did not feel that credible information about them was being disseminated effectively and the distribution seemed rushed....

by Tasmiha Khan

Three of the most mistranslated words in the Bible—according to TikTok

Popular activities for this summer include visiting heavily populated beaches, hanging out indoors with crowds of more than 50, and debating translations of New Testament Greek on the internet....

by Renée Roden

People

Longest serving UMC bishop dies at 93

United Methodist bishop Joseph H. Yeakel died July 4 at age 93. At the time of his death, Yeakel had been a United Methodist bishop longer than any episcopal leader still living....

by Heather Hahn

People

Head of Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church dies at 74

Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, head of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, died on July 12 at the age of 74. He had been undergoing cancer treatment for the last two years....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

People

Arizona candidate's claim to be military chaplain investigated

“My name is Alex Stovall. I am Republican. I am 26. I am a Chaplain,” tweeted a 24-year-old chaplain candidate in the US Army Reserve in late May, announcing his campaign for a congressional seat in Arizona’s 9th District....

by Joseph Hammond

Lectionary

August 29, Ordinary 22B (James 1:17–27)

Hearing the word and doing it aren’t as far apart as Martin Luther thought.

by Austin Crenshaw Shelley

August 22, Ordinary 21B (Psalm 84)

In Psalm 84, an expectant swallow makes her nest in the temple.

by Austin Crenshaw Shelley

Free Newsletters

From theological reflections to breaking religion news to the latest books, the Christian Century's newsletters have you covered.

Explore Newsletters