-
2 months ago | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |W. Clark Gilpin |Katherine Willis Pershey |Brian Bantum
What’s the Bible for? We asked dozens of writers to respond to this question in seven words or less, as well as to expand on their response in a few sentences. To see all of the responses together as they are posted, bookmark this page. Tells a story in breath, rhythm, songWhen I sing a song—even one that’s strange, that is only scraps of a rhythm and a few lyrics—the song makes me breathe with it. I don’t read as much as I listen with it and soften my body to it.
-
Feb 7, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Brian Bantum |Alan Levinovitz
Alan LevinovitzAlan Levinovitz is professor of religion at James Madison University and author of Natural: How Faith in Nature’s Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science. All articles » Jason NovakJason Novak is a cartoonist whose work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, the Paris Review, and the Believer. He lives in Oakland, California. All articles »
-
Feb 7, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brian Bantum |David Paulsen |Yonat Shimron
Swartz Hall (formerly Andover Hall) at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2016. (Photo by Tim Sackton/Flickr/Creative Commons) A program at Harvard Divinity School is the latest casualty of the ongoing tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war, with the departure of two administrators and the cancellation of a class on Israel-Palestine. Diane L.
-
Feb 6, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brian Bantum |David Paulsen |Brandon Ambrosino
As he stepped to the podium to deliver a prayer at the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, Franklin Graham addressed the 47th president directly: “Mr. President, the last four years, there were times I’m sure you thought it was pretty dark, but look what God has done!”And what exactly did God do? President Trump later answered the question: “Just a few months ago, in a beautiful field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear.
-
Feb 6, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Jessica Jacobs |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Brian Bantum
When Robert Alter’s Hebrew Bible translation was published in 2018, I quickly became consumed by his poetic renderings of scripture. Before I knew it, I was writing persona poems of biblical prophetesses like Miriam, Abigail, and Huldah. Thus, when I learned about Jessica Jacobs’s new poetry collection, which rescues biblical narratives from dogmatism and some of their women from obscurity, I was all in.
-
Feb 5, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Brian Bantum
In January the most powerful people on earth—every former living president and vice president, foreign dignitaries, billionaires, and career bureaucrats—gathered to welcome Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Joe Biden smiled as he said, “Welcome home.” A Michigan pastor, Lorenzo Sewell, hawked his own meme coin seconds after delivering his benediction (as the President’s own meme coin soared to more than $10 billion in market value).
-
Feb 5, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brian Bantum |David Paulsen |Aleja Hertzler- McCain
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks during a protest against the shuttering of the United States Refugee Admissions Program, February 4, in Washington. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain) Over the sounds of construction machinery dismantling inauguration-related viewing stands and other structures in front of the White House, faith-based advocates for refugees worked to make their voices heard Tuesday in Lafayette Square.
-
Feb 5, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |Brian Bantum |David Paulsen |Peter W. Marty
I’d hate to venture a guess as to how many pages in the century have been devoted to the topic of clergy burnout in recent decades. But we’ve certainly done our part to draw attention to the subject. One cover design (November 18, 2020) featured the words “clergy burnout” depicted with flames. An article in the January 2023 issue bore the stark title, “The clergy are not OK.” We’ve also covered the self-care industry that has sprung up around dispirited pastors and others.
-
Feb 4, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Aaron Stauffer |Mac Loftin |Brandon Ambrosino |Brian Bantum
We’re in desperate need of broad-based community organizing these days. Many of the most tangible injustices in our world, both large and small, appear to be unresolvable through straightforward political means. We receive hints here and there of the revitalization of worker organization and unions, but the news is mixed.
-
Jan 30, 2025 | 
christiancentury.org | Mac Loftin |David Paulsen |Brian Bantum
Our faith is really strange, isn’t it? When we sit down and actually talk it out, try to explain it to someone: This is who I think God is. This is what a life with God looks like. This is what I believe about Jesus, creation, heaven, hell, salvation. . . .
