We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “Field.”
Prayers for Children and the apophatic tradition
Navigating agency and surrender with my namesake, the mother of God
T. S. Eliot’s epic poem is a masterpiece—but what do we do with its view of classical Western tradition?
While struggling with this question as a church songwriter, I came up with six guidelines.
A new documentary positions the fiery iconoclast as a prophet ahead of her time.
In Luke’s Advent story, Bethlehem’s economy is central—and it looks a lot like Bethlehem’s economy today.
Martin Modéus will lead the national church during a time of profound change.
“One day,” says Avivah Zornberg, “I had a flash of insight about Leviticus as a whole.”
A letter to pastors and churchgoers who wonder what happened to the prepandemic church they knew.
Social media movements fade. Survivors of sexual assault and harassment need living communities.
The cracks in my faith came slow, like when plants grow under concrete.
A man sleeping on a step? A baby in a manger?
At a migrant shelter in Tijuana, I met a woman who was about to give birth.
I’m hoping for one that’s lyrical, chastened, hallowed.
One of the reasons I left my childhood faith tradition is that I didn’t feel what I was supposed to feel.
Oddly enough, some of the best TV shows about clergy come from secular Europe.
Both movies critique the assumption that survival requires dominance.
God’s faithfulness shows up with wonder and surprise in a weary and heavy-laden world.
Joseph has a massive decision to make.
John the Baptist is not sure if Jesus is very Christlike.
John the Baptist is calling for more than a cognitive recognition of wrongdoing.
Who gets to live on the land?
Historian Jo Guldi argues that land occupancy struggles aren’t just about fairness; they’re about humanity’s survival.
How some churches fail to provide a lifeline
Tiffany Brooks offers much more than just another exvangelical anger manual.
Avivah Zornberg finds the plot of Leviticus
The eclectic scholar masterfully uncovers the subterranean threads and tensions that underlie this nonnarrative text.
The Word made grotesque
If we want our sermons to resemble real life, says Charles Campbell, we might take a hint from carnival.
When nature is its own protagonist
Amitav Ghosh’s book sings the ancestral story of nutmeg.
Can we be reconciled to God without being reconciled to one another?
Jonathan Augustine starts where Barth left off, moving from salvific reconciliation to social reconciliation.
Diane Glancy’s search for home
Glancy’s spirit is shaped as much by her exile from her tribe as by her ties to it.
