Church
A religion too wild to nationalize
After 250 years, US Christianity remains too diverse, splintered, and strange to be conscripted into any one political project.
Midwestern Ethiopia
Kai Parker charts the rise of Ethiopianism, a movement that stemmed from the 1896 Battle of Adwa—and changed Chicago forever.
The church’s crisis of vocational theology
What would Frederick Buechner say about the world’s persistent hunger for gladless jobs?
At home with the Baptists
At my first gathering of Baptists in decades, I found something I didn’t know I was missing: testimony.
June 28, Ordinary 13A (Matthew 10:40–42)
I saw Jesus. It was Easter morning, 1988.
A betrayal of refuge
In immigrant congregations, deportation anxiety can silence survivors and shield abusers.
June 21, Ordinary 12A (Romans 6:1b–11)
I remember when I first had the thought that if God forgives my sins, my behavior doesn’t really matter.
Other people’s greatness
I want to be like David Lynch. And my pastor. And my wife. But there aren’t enough hours in the day.
Donald McGavran’s complicated legacy
The founder of the church growth movement was full to bursting with intercultural adaptation and anti-racist struggle. How did he become the darling of White segregationist Christians?
God’s whole body and ours
A multisensory, embodied approach to worship works well for many people with disabilities—and for everyone else, too.
Reading scripture with Augustine
The bishop of Hippo isn’t just for JD Vance and Mike Johnson—and Bible studies aren’t just for evangelicals.
The heist of Buncombe Street United Methodist Church
Will Willimon’s story of his childhood congregation contrasts the salt-of-the-earth people who formed him with the conservative minority that took over later.
Eight guidelines for preaching in partisan times
Disengagement from politics is not an option. But I’m convinced that the problem for some hearers is more about method than content.
The room next door to faith
I am learning that questioning religion is not the same as abandoning it.
When Christians do unchristian things
It can be tempting to respond to people’s harmful actions by denying their identity as Christians. We should resist this temptation.
A masterful survey of American religious history
Thomas Tweed offers a bold new benchmark for scholars, with an expansive scope across 11 millennia and far beyond Protestantism.
Has worship become a luxury good?
As working-class stability erodes, congregations are quietly remaking themselves in the image of the middle class.
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.
Sermons without church
For someone who doesn’t call herself a Christian, I listen to a lot of sermons. They’re providing some much-needed sustenance these days.