Authors /

Belden C. Lane

Belden C. Lane is professor of theological studies at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, and author of The Great Conversation: Nature and the Care of the Soul (Oxford University Press).

First Person

After my son died, I went looking for God in the desert

If anything had an honest answer, it would be the canyon’s cool indifference and heartbreaking beauty.
First Person

The pandemic has deepened my insomnia—and my prayers

As I lie awake, it seems right to join those who address God with different names than I use.
cottonwood tree
First Person

Trees communicate with one another. I’m trying to listen.

My favorite is a 100-year-old male cottonwood. I call him Grandfather.
Feature

Caring and not caring: The Desert Christians on apathy

I’m delighted to be back among the 400-year-old whitebark pine trees of the Wind River Range in northwest Wyoming....
Feature

Holy silence

In late June, weary of another long year behind a desk, I headed toward Ring Lake Ranch, an ecumenical retreat and study center in northwest Wyoming....
Cover Story

The whole world singing: A journey to Iona and Taizé Living in the sound of praise

I’ve often wondered what sort of conversation Protestant Reformer John Calvin and Catholic Bishop Francis de Sales would have had if they had met....

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