Features
Ending extreme poverty: Economist Ana Revenga
"The biggest driver of success against global poverty is economic growth—but not any kind of economic growth."
Riffing on a prayer: Jazz vespers every week in San Diego
On Saturdays at First Presbyterian, the congregants know good jazz when they hear it. But the event is first of all a church service.
Except ye see signs and wonders
Did Jesus mean that all the things we mean by accomplishment, and maturity, and reason, and progress, are actually small niggling things that we must finally shuck and lay aside, in order to again be like children, spiritually open and emotionally naked and constantly liable to giggling?
At the threshold: Why I left the ordination process
The priest faces inward, toward liturgy and the sacraments. The layperson faces outward, toward everything else—everything.
Thirsty in Detroit: Water shutoffs and baptismal witness
At St. Peter's, the font beckons Detroiters to wade into freedom—while the bottled water around it brings to mind the principalities and powers.
Populist fever: Anger at the democratic deficit
Populism is a predictable recurring feature of any society that is unwilling or unable to be as democratic as it claims to be.
Confirmed and sent out: Fostering encounters with God
Encounters with God happen, and they are known by their liberating effects. How can confirmation class support such encounters?
Inside the refugee city: Anthropologist Rahul Oka on Kakuma, Kenya
"Maybe 5 percent of refugees are ever resettled. Meanwhile, human life is always more than survival."
The sting of spring: Notes from the farm
Harvesting wild greens always returns me to our species' hunter-gatherer roots. Not so long ago, this is what people did the world over.
Thirsty in Detroit: Water shutoffs and baptismal witness
At St. Peter's, the font beckons Detroiters to wade into freedom—while the bottled water around it brings to mind the principalities and powers.
Words made pulp: Why I destroy books
Twice a year I take a day off to undo the work I get paid to do. This sounds batty, but it's becoming a spiritual practice of mine.
Is Trump like Hitler? The value and limits of analogy
A narcissistic demagogue is different from a racist-völkisch one. But Trump's ideological unpredictability bears its own dangers.
The logic of God: Why metaphysical proofs still matter
Efforts to avoid the term proof are mistaken—both as a reading of Aquinas and as a broader claim about whether God exists.
What a congregation knows: The deep wisdom behind odd practices
Local ways are rarely senseless or stupid. It's just that a new pastor likely doesn't yet understand them as the locals do.
What’s your passion? To market themselves, churches need a product
If we're going to adopt business language for the church, we should think less about reaching a certain market and more about the nature of the product.
When leaders are narcissists: Psychoanalyst Michael Maccoby
"Narcissists can be inspiring. Whether they are creative or destructive depends on their philosophy."
More people, looser ties: Social life in the megachurch
The rise of megachurches has created a larger public role for some churches—even as it has signaled the loosening hold of organized religion.
Speech bearers: The divine in the human
In John's prologue, the incarnate Word is the God of creative address.
The force of silence: Uneasy holiness in the Sinai desert
People assume that silence and peace can be simply harnessed together, silence as Xanax for the soul. But that's not how deserts work.
Dying in Oregon: A critical look at death with dignity
Brittany Maynard's story is compelling—but not typical. Basing policy on cases like hers can be dangerous to the people the policy affects.