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June 17, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #13
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Features

The Beyoncé Mass places black women’s stories at the center—and proclaims God’s love

The music gets people in the door. Yolanda Norton’s preaching might be what sticks to their bones.

by Faith J. Jones

Muslim voters are getting organized for the 2020 election

And they could determine the outcome.

by Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil

Why did Benny Gantz form a coalition government with Benjamin Netanyahu?

And will he regret it?

by Mordechai Beck

First Person

Wearing down structural evil with the ministry of erosion

During the pandemic, our church’s justice work has gone online.

by Willie Dwayne Francois III

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Critical Essay

Social distancing lessons from the anchoresses

It takes more than isolation to make us into contemplatives.

by Shannon Gayk

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Critical Essay

The old, evil idea of humans as units of production

When people’s value is reduced to their economic contributions, they are dehumanized.

by Whitney Wilkinson Arreche

Books

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Imagination as a lens for making sense of the world

Cultivating a shared Christian imagination

by Zen Hess
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A non-Christian’s argument for Christianity’s positive influence

Tom Holland doesn’t shout that secularists have no clothes. He whispers that they bear a Christian label.

by Samuel Wells
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What is ecopiety?

The stories we tell about consuming our way to a healthy environment

by Jacob J. Erickson
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How deaths of despair reached white communities

Two economists tell the story and suggest reforms.

by Graison Dangor

Departments

On Art

Jonah, by Lyuba Yatskiv

Few biblical narratives deal with separation from God and from others in so vivid a way as the story of Jonah in the belly of the great fish, depicted in this wood panel painting by Lyuba Yatskiv....

art selection and comment by John Kohan

Faith Matters

The best judges of my theology are the littlest ones

The questions that plunge me into a cloud of unknowing most often come from my Sunday school students.

by Isaac S. Villegas

Screen Time

My pandemic comfort viewing

Three TV shows and movies that have combated loneliness and brought welcome distraction

by Kathryn Reklis

From the Editors

Political attacks on the US Postal Service threaten more than just the mail

Democracy, equality, and opportunity are at risk.
First Words

Pentecost is the truest conspiracy

The church can conspire—breathe together—to bring goodness into the world.

by Peter W. Marty

News

Experimental interfaith house adapts to coronavirus pandemic

Hadar Cohen, Ala’ Khan, Maya Mansour, and Jonathan Sim­cosky arrived as strangers, ready to embark on a new interfaith journey. The four roommates moved into a house in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles earlier this year....

by Alejandra Molina

Pandemic leads hundreds of cities around the globe to explore 'open streets'

When COVID-19 cases started popping up in Colombia in mid-March, Bogotá mayor Claudia López realized her city had a head start on at least one response: car-free streets....
by Tristan Cleveland

New poll finds most Americans who believe in God see coronavirus as divine message

While the coronavirus rattles the United States, causing economic hardship for millions and killing more than 90,000 Americans, the findings of a poll by the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Aff...

by Elana Schor

Renters and landlords face uncertain future during pandemic

Dennis Schvejda, a landlord who owns two apartment buildings with 16 units in Walton, New York, was worried as May began. After expenses—which include maintenance, utilities, and taxes—his taxable apartment income is about $115 a week, he said....

by Kriston Capps

Gun control group launches pre-election interfaith initiative

A leading gun control advocacy group has enlisted more than a dozen religious leaders to boost voter turnout this fall in support of candidates who support measures to prevent gun violence....

by Elana Schor

People

Francis Collins, champion of faith and science, awarded Templeton Prize

Francis Collins, world-renowned ge­neticist and director of the National Institutes of Health, is the 2020 recipient of the Templeton Prize....

by Kathryn Post

People

International apologist Ravi Zacharias dies at 74

Popular Christian evangelist and apologist Ravi Zacharias died May 19 at age 74, a few months af­ter being diagnosed with cancer....

by Emily McFarlan Miller

People

Fringe Muslim leader released from prison early due to coronavirus

A Muslim leader who spent the past several years leading a small national following from a federal prison has been released early due to the coronavirus....

by Aysha Khan

Lectionary

July 5, Ordinary Time 14A (Genesis 24:34–38, 42–49, 58–67)

Doesn’t God have better things to do than arrange marriages?

by Diane Roth

June 28, Ordinary Time 13A (Matthew 10:40–42)

What happens when we are the refugees, the strangers, and the dying?

by Diane Roth

June 21, Ordinary 12A (Matthew 10:24–39)

Jesus keeps saying, “Do not be afraid.” But there’s so much to be afraid of.

by Diane Roth

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