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September 9, 2020

Volume 137, Issue #19

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Features

Rock star Yuri Shevchuk imagines an anti-nationalist Russian democracy

The performances of his band, DDT, are like teach-ins.

by Amy Frykholm

Getting to the Old City of Jerusalem—by cable car?

The proposed project may be good for tourism, but it brings dangers.

by Mordechai Beck

First Person

How I used Minecraft with my catechism group

Instead of memorizing Luther’s theology, the kids built churches that embodied it.

by Clint Schnekloth

Government denial is raising the stakes of COVID-19 in Nicaragua

Amid a disinformation campaign, churches are trying to provide education and aid.

by Jeannine Marie Pitas

Opinion

Can offensive monuments from the past help hold us accountable today?

Perhaps the names once chosen for honor can now spark meaningful conversation.

by Dorothy Sanders Wells

Books

Louise Erdrich’s novel gives names, faces, words, and life to the Chippewa Turtle Mountain Band

A story of survival in the face of termination

by Joshua B. Grace

Prominent evangelical scholars are, once again, disavowing Trump

They’re brave to do so. Do they go far enough?

by Greg Carey

I wish Francis Su had been my third-grade math teacher

Su’s book is about math and human flourishing. It’s also about how to be a teacher.

by David J. Wood

Departments

Faith Matters

Reenvisioning safety at a Black Youth Project 100 rally

Who keeps us safe? the crowd cried out. We keep us safe!

by Isaac S. Villegas

On Art

The Space between the Choice, by Anjet van Linge

Anjet van Linge is an expert at remaining still. She and her husband manage a small working farm in the remote north of the Netherlands, along the North Sea....

art selection and comment by Aaron Rosen

First Words

Louisiana’s habitual offender law is cruel and unjust

Just because something is legal doesn’t make it morally right.

by Peter W. Marty

Screen Time

A Perry Mason that doesn’t trust institutions

In the HBO reboot, even the deacons and the police are corrupt.

by Kathryn Reklis

From the Editors

Why is the Border Patrol undermining humanitarian aid efforts at the southern border?

In July, agents raided a No More Deaths aid station—and 26 bodies were found in the desert.

News

Observers of religion say Harris looks like the future of the nation

Kamala Harris filled two criteria that Joe Biden wanted in a running mate: she is a woman, and she is black, two critical Democratic constituencies ahead of the November elections....

by Yonat Shimron

Lebanon priests recount horror of explosion

The video shows Rabih Thoumy swinging a chain censer, sending smoke into the air, when abruptly there is a rumble and then a loud bang as the shock wave from Beirut’s devastating explosion slams into the church....

by Mariam Fam

Beyoncé’s new visual album draws from religious imagery

Beyoncé’s visual album Black Is King, released July 31 on Disney+, brings to life the music of her 2019 album The Lion King: The Gift....

by Emily McFarlan Miller

Christians in Germany purchase boat to aid shipwrecked migrants

A rescue ship purchased via crowdfunding, organized by the Evangelical Church in Germany, set sail from Spain in early August....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins

ELCA presiding bishop’s neon sign goes viral

As churches closed to slow the spread of COVID-19, Elizabeth Eaton, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, began offering weekly video messages from her home....

by Emily McFarlan Miller

People

Jerry Prevo named interim president of Liberty University

Liberty University in Virginia announced on August 10 that its board had chosen an interim president to lead the school days after Jerry Falwell Jr....

by Sarah Rankin and Elana Schor

People

Ivy Taylor becomes first woman to lead Methodist Rust College

This spring, Ivy Taylor became the first woman to lead Rust College, a United Methodist liberal arts school in Holly Springs, Mississippi. The college, where journalist and antilynching activist Ida B....

by Dawn Araujo-Hawkins