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December 18, 2019

Volume 136, Issue #26
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Features

First Person

The SAT is unfair. My son is studying for it anyway.

It’s hard to quit the college admissions game.

by Amy Frykholm

First Person

New life in old space at St. Stephen’s, Philadelphia

I knew Sunday worship wasn’t viable. But what about weekdays?

by Peter Kountz

What does a fair trade logo actually mean?

Churches that support the movement should confront the gap between its vision and its accomplishments.

by David Mesenbring

Books

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The line between human and nonhuman

Alice Hoffman’s Holocaust novel collapses the boundaries between reality and fantasy.

by Elizabeth Palmer
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Four views of Paul’s letter to the Romans

In Preaching Romans, a range of scholars present their perspectives in complementary ways.

by Jessica Young
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How people deal with pointless suffering

Scott Samuelson considers seven responses to the age-old mystery.

by Richard Lischer
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Louise Aronson calls for a health-care system that treats elders better

The medical community takes middle-age adulthood as the norm. What if it didn’t?

by Jim Honig
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David Bentley Hart’s polemic against the alleged doctrine of eternal hell

Hart thunders like Amos against cruel, incoherent religion.

by Jason Micheli

Departments

A look at faith in film over the last decade

At a time of rapid secularization, filmmakers seem intrigued—if sometimes also repelled—by religion.

by Philip Jenkins

First Words

Cultivating uncertainty

Marilynne Robinson calls it “a form of reverence.”

by Peter W. Marty

From the Editors

A wealth tax would be good for democracy

The American dream is not just about accumulating private wealth.
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On Art

Welcoming the Stranger, by Sinan Hussein

Iraqi-born (now US-based) artist Sinan Hussein is one of the painters represented in the traveling exhibit Abraham: Out of One, Many, now showing at the Cathedral Church of St....

art selection and comment by Lil Copan

Faith Matters

Reading Toni Morrison in Advent

A seasonal practice: cultivate the patient gaze to describe life as we find it.

by Stephanie Paulsell

News

Churches seek to put affordable housing in ‘God’s backyard’

Faith congregations across California are responding to the state’s housing crisis by sharing their parking lots with people living in their cars, providing mobile showers for the homeless, and joining their neighbors in calling for rent control i...

by Alejandra Molina

With exhibit on Abraham, Episcopal cathedral in Boston organizes interfaith conversation

The day after the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue last October, more than a thousand people gathered on the Boston Common to mourn and pray....

by Aysha Khan

New study finds churches are growing and making money

In one of its first published reports, the National Study of Congregations’ Economic Practices counters a popular story line—that congregations in the US, as a whole, are shrinking....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

People

Mexican immigrant José Gómez elected head of US Catholic bishops group

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has elected as its new president Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles, a naturalized US citizen who emigrated from Mexico and is outspoken on immigration issues....

by Jack Jenkins

People

Kay Warren hosts event for suicide survivors

For the past seven years, Kay Warren has hosted an annual gathering at Saddle­back Church in honor of Sur­vi­vors of Suicide Loss Day. During that time, Warren said, there have been many strides in mental health awareness....

by Alejandra Molina

People

Ecofeminist theologian Sallie McFague dies at 86

Theologian Sallie McFague died November 15 at the age of 86. McFague influenced a generation of feminist theo­logians with her work in ecofeminist theology. For 30 years she taught at Vanderbilt Divinity School....

Warren acquitted of harboring immigrants

Scott Warren breathed a visible sigh of relief as he exited the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, on November 20, having received a not guilty verdict in his retrial on two counts of felony harboring....

by Gregg Brekke

FOLLOWING UP 12-18

United Methodist pastor Anna Blaedel will not face a church trial for being a “self-avowed, practicing homo­sexual.” According to reports from United Methodist News Ser­vice, a date for Blaedel’s trial had been set when Blaedel instead re­quested ...

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

Lectionary

December 29, Christmas 1A (Matthew 2:13–23)

Matthew connects Jesus to the overarching narrative of the Jewish people—as well as to the smaller story of Matthew’s immediate community.

by Daniel Schultz

December 24 and 25, Nativity (Isaiah 9:2–7; Luke 2:1–20)

Preachers who value their pulpit would be wise to avoid Isaiah 9 this Christmas Eve.

by Daniel Schultz

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