Life of Faith
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.
The genders within us
I am more and more convinced that trans people’s gender multiplicity will point us to our collective liberation.
Marjorie Maddox’s vital disquiet
Her poems weave stories of trauma and survivorship, dancing on the frail and fraying edges of memory and perception.
Etched in flesh
Stigmata assert identity and collective memory through self-scarred skin. What if we read the Thomas story through a tattoo hermeneutic?
Easter in a brutal world
How can we proclaim any sort of hope right now? We aren’t the first Christians to wrestle with this question.
A theology of self-help according to Thecla
Meggan Watterson finds in the Acts of Paul and Thecla a seven-step journey for personal growth.
Hope arrives in the present tense
Living in the liturgical present makes salvation a story about us, not just the past.
Essays by readers: Twilight
We gave our readers a one-word writing prompt: “Twilight.”
Practicing compassionate patriotism
Recent books by Amanda Tyler and Drew Strait offer concrete, actionable advice for resisting Christian nationalism.
Public health’s humble giant
Bill Foege, who oversaw the eradication of smallpox, was soft-spoken, self-effacing, and focused on other people’s achievements more than his own.
The types of people we are
Our personal passions feel unique, distinguished. Most of the time they aren’t.
I dreamed I made my mentor cry
He was giving an academic talk on character education, and I asked a question I would never ask in real life.
The common good is something we practice face-to-face
The incarnation pulls my attention away from ideology and toward my neighbor.
Remembering not to forget
At their best, theology and history are complementary tools that enact remembering as a sacred practice.
My queer, infertile fatherhood
Last Lent, I found myself reckoning with the concept of failure—and beginning to understand the power of standing in suffering with God.
An unconventional devotional for our times
This slim volume by theologian Hanna Reichel is a first aid kit for people who are trying to reckon with an imperial presidency.
Giving silence a seat at the virtual table
It’s one aspect of Christian life that can translate well to digital space.
When the Lunar New Year, Lent, and Ramadan converge
The February moon is capacious enough for carnival, lion dances, and taraweeh prayers; for dumplings, dates, and king cake.
Jesus and the wilderness of trans identity
I am struck by how Christ’s desert experience relies on inner convictions resisting an external voice.
Abstinence and agency
I grew up in evangelical purity culture. Melissa Febos’s decision to abstain from sex was quite different.