(OPINION) Where does sacrificing end and enabling the irresponsible begin? Isn’t it possible that by endlessly serving we’ll just burn ourselves out? These are legitimate questions. But living that Jesus kind of life is hard. It’s risky. It can be deeply frustrating. It requires more faith than I possess.
Read MoreAs I take stock this year, I feel a foreboding of apocalypse. Maybe my own apocalypse, or maybe this country’s, or maybe the world’s. Things are falling apart. The center cannot hold. You can choose to think of all this bad news as great news, in a counterintuitive way.
Read More(OPINION) The international conversation about Gaza has long circled the same grim question: What would it take for the population to rise up against Hamas? We just might have the beginnings of a response: The resumption of war, after Israel broke a two-month ceasefire following 15 months of devastating conflict. The prospect of more death with no end date, all because Hamas refuses to free more hostages until Israel agrees to leave it in power as part of a more permanent truce, appears to be too much to bear.
Read More(OPINION) All humanity is royally screwed up. As a result, your family is screwed up. Likely, you are screwed up, too, and your family may have contributed to that screwed-upness. But your ancestry doesn’t have to define your destiny. With God’s help, you can break the cycle of dysfunction, no matter how far back it goes.
Read More(OPINION) Call it God’s work, but a world without art is a world without humans. Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde knew it, “What art seeks to disturb is monotony of type, slavery of custom, tyranny of habit, and the reduction of man to the level of a machine.” I took a course on artificial intelligence to keep abreast of the world and was unsurprised to learn that a machine is not “intelligent.”
Read MoreWhen covering a tragedy, faith almost always emerges as a part of the story. That was the case again this past weekend when a monster storm system struck the Deep South and the Plains.
Read More(OPINION) “Poor wordy little Protestants” — as someone once said — have severed this connection between the church and its visual soul food. Bereft of beauty, Protestant churches have left us to the narcotizing effect of TV and social media, and a daily diet of pap, propaganda and rage. Could new generations and populations be inspired again to aspire to the heights to which those early artists aspired? If so, we'll surely need to get out more.
Read More(OPINION) As we prepare this Lenten season, let us walk through whatever wilderness we travel, knowing that Jesus walks with us, sure that he knows the wilderness far better than we, and knowing that, stays by our side.
Read More(OPINION) My counselor and I never did agree about whether I was mad at God, but our ongoing discussions forced me to ponder anger as a principle — anger toward the Lord, anger toward difficult circumstances and anger toward my fellow pilgrims. Here’s what I think today.
Read MoreThis week marks the five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown. Mostly, life has returned to normal. But in some ways we still seem to be struggling, our columnist notes.
Read More(OPINION) In recent weeks, the plight of a group of Iranian asylum-seekers claiming to be converts to Christianity has been followed by The New York Times, helping to shine a light on a story not commonly reported by the mainstream media. The story, that is, of Iranian Christians who for years have found it harder and harder to find anyone willing to accept them.
Read More(OPINION) Mainly, the people who’ve become devoted to their faith did so along a winding path. Some had been to jail. Some were atheists. Some grew up in church, rejected it in their youth, veered out into the wider world for years and then reluctantly found their way back. Some hated organized religion.
Read MoreIn a California meeting, Compelling Preaching Initiative participants enjoyed how-to sessions on the content, crafting and delivery of sermons as well as one-on-one coaching and fellowship with other men — and women — of God.
Read More(OPINION) Marty died on Feb. 25 at the age of 97, a quarter of a century after retiring from teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School. The research center he launched in 1979 was then rebranded as the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. He received numerous other awards, including more than 80 honorary degrees.
Read More(OPINION) Suffering indeed is our common language. Regardless of your age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, politics or marital status, every person reading this column has suffered. If somehow you haven’t yet, you will. This may be the greatest impediment to believing in a loving, all-powerful God.
Read MoreSome of the nation’s top religion writers offer insights on what they found surprising — and not surprising — in the Pew Research Center’s massive Religious Landscape Study.
Read More(OPINION) For several years now, it’s felt like the whole world has gone mad. Trying to keep track of, much less digest, the daily flood of outrageous news stories and hair-on-fire op-ed pieces curdles my mind, steals my joy and leaves me staring gape-mouthed into a tsunami of chaos. But I happened across two articles that helped me rethink my news avoidance.
Read MoreAt the five-year anniversary of COVID-19, our columnist reflects on his brother-in-law’s near-death battle with the contagious virus.
Read More(OPINION) The Buddha didn’t suggest that monks and nuns become society’s moral police, dictating correct behavior and enforcing his rules. Rather, by living simply within his guidelines and refraining from harm, monastic communities can exemplify ethical living. By deliberately cultivating equanimity, love, compassion and empathic joy, they could inspire others to do the same.
Read MoreOur columnist witnesses a whole lot of despair, but he always looks for a measure of hope. He explains why — and how — as he reports from the scene of Southern California’s deadly wildfires.
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