Category: Religion
exposing the wounds in the Church
I really wish this New Yorker profile of Karen Swallow Prior had been about three times as long, but it’ll have to do for now: The next morning, we shared a breakfast of scrambled eggs with some venison that Roy had...
what role do traditional healers have in a modern healthcare system?
On the fence just down the street from the hospital where I work in Kenya, there is a sign for a “Dr. Musa” promising treatments for everything from “business” to “male strength”. Sometimes as I walk through town, I will...
“Is redemption even possible?”
It’s impossible not to be moved by this story about gang members in El Salvador finding redemption for their souls (and practical help for their very difficult post-gang life!) in local churches: As I speak to Gomez, the former gang...
what if there’s nothing to assimilate to?
Shadi Hamid continues to be indispensable in thinking through issues of identity, belief, and assimilation in America: In short, Muslims are becoming more integrated, but they are becoming more integrated within only one half of the country, the Democratic one....
a letter from a Chinese pastor
This is a moving letter from a Chinese pastor arrested for preaching the Gospel: Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels. Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ. When I...
culture is learning to be free
This is a fascinating interview with Patrick Deneen at the ever-worthwhile Comment magazine (subscribe now for $30/year!) Liberalism ends in slavery because its notion of freedom involves the pursuit of desires that can never be sated, that can never be fulfilled....
“Shallow songs last for three years, and breed shallow believers that last for three years.”
Church Times has a fascinating (if somewhat meandering) report on the history and future of contemporary worship music: In fact, almost from the start, much of the critique of contemporary worship music has emerged from within the movement. Wimber was...
there may have been a manger, but it wasn’t a stable
Stop your nativity pageants! What, then, does it mean for the kataluma to have ‘no space’? It means that many, like Joseph and Mary, have travelled to Bethlehem, and the family guest room is already full, probably with other relatives who arrived earlier....
baby steps on criminal justice reform
Emma Green looks at the conservative Christian push for the First Step Act and the pushback from other Christian leaders wary of working with Trump on anything — and leaving the underlying issues unaddressed: Conservative religious leaders like Colson saw...
john the baptist and the advent calendar
Fleming Rutledge digs into the curious omission of John the Baptist from our advent calendar: It would be hard to say which is more alien to our contemporary ideas of getting ready for Christmas, the season of Advent or the...