Features
The scars of a flourishing human
Many people assume that disability is bad for a person’s well-being. But historically we haven’t been very good at determining what’s bad for someone.
Natural death and Christian love
The most religious people are also statistically the most likely to place their faith in artificial life support. Why?
When drug lords get saved
In Rio de Janeiro, they don’t necessarily turn away from sin.
The Louisiana Standard Version
There are many problems with the Ten Commandments laws states are passing. One is the specific text they require schools to post.
Michael Jackson and the boys we don’t talk about
We reached consensus on Epstein and Cosby. Why are we buying tickets to see Michael?
What churches don’t remember
Poet Marilyn Nelson strips away nostalgia to reveal a congregation shaped as much by slavery, doubt, and culture as by faith.
Spectator violence is a form of moral injury
Something critical has broken in the American psyche: Misanthropy has taken root.
Reading Aquinas’s five proofs as a trans man
Both faith and identity are lives to inhabit, not arguments to win. There is nothing to prove.
Noah’s ark in Armenia’s religious imagination
In the church of my ancestors, even the architecture pays homage to the resonance of the flood story.
Is it ADHD? Or is grind culture the problem?
Some of my clients clearly meet the diagnostic criteria. Others are seeking absolution for failing to live up to an impossible standard.
What kind of man will I be when the world burns?
Tim Winton’s novel Juice tackles climate change, masculinity, and violence.
Deliverance for oppressed and oppressor
The early Black church understood that the church is not just a place for worship—it is a launching pad for liberation.
When the demon takes over
Fascism is a cult of power. It works by intoxicating half the population and filling the other half with dread and despair.
Etched in flesh
Stigmata assert identity and collective memory through self-scarred skin. What if we read the Thomas story through a tattoo hermeneutic?
Believe your own eyes—and cultivate your moral perception
Kristi Noem lied to the public about Alex Pretti’s death, and everyone could see it. But not everyone cared.
Trauma at the tomb
I understand why Mark’s editors added to his ending. Still, I wish they hadn’t.
For Mark, Easter begins in trembling
The bewilderment of the women at the tomb gives way to a hope that overturns power, shame, and death itself.
Learning from women in the Hebrew Bible and Qur’an
How do we celebrate International Women’s Month at such a difficult time? By honoring our foremothers who persevered.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s pursuit of freedom in relationship
One Battle After Another makes no argument for the “right” sort of revolutionary action. It’s more concerned with the relationships between parents and children.
The Hebrew Bible’s map(s) of the land of Israel
God promises Israel to the Jews 16 times—and each time, the borders are different.