Rebecca Randall: George Washington Carver on Revitalizing Soil and Soul
With the help of our new editor, Rebecca Randall, we introduce you this week to George Washington Carver as a resource for Christian engagement with science and will show you next week how Hood Theological Seminary and several black churches have leveraged Carver’s inspiration in their programming.
Walter Brueggemann: Not Comforted!
The film "Philomena," as might be expected, led me to a trajectory of biblical texts that concern lost children. At the outset, I thought of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
Ed Rosado: James Webb Telescope: The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
From ancient times, we have peered into the skies seeking to understand the magnitude of God’s handiwork.
Susan Sparks: Lessons from a Mac and Cheese Stuffed Hotdog
Here's my question today: Think about the last time you went shopping. When you got to the checkout counter, how many of the items in your cart did you actually need? Not all of them, I bet.
Walter Brueggemann: Habeas Corpus
From my earliest days I learned in church to recite the creed. In my tradition it was the Apostles Creed. I learned to recite it before I had any clue about the meaning of the words or phrases....
Josh Packard: Faith like a spiral: How Gen Z in defying religious norms and starting from scratch
Young people need you. They need religious and faith leaders to walk alongside them and provide guidance after the COVID years of grief, trauma, upheaval, and uncertainty. But first, young people need to be known and feel understood.
Greg Cootsona: How Do We Really and Truly Relate our Faith with Science?
How do we bring science to our faith? And what difference does it make in our church ministries? I’m certainly fascinated by the first question, but it’s the second one I’d like to focus on here. Why? Because it’s true about actions—they do in fact speak louder than words.
Walter Brueggemann: Iron Rationed
This brief, innocent-looking text is one never heard in church. It nonetheless tells us a great deal about the socio-economic, military situation of Israel in the early days of Israel’s settlement in the land.
Drew Rick-Miller: Our Minds and the Mind of Christ
In 1 Corinthians, Paul is writing to a church that is divided and struggling with elitist attitudes and dissension. Like today, it is a church divided. Paul’s antidote for the church in Corinth is the cross and Christ crucified.
Walter Brueggemann: The Raw Power of Government
The teachable, preachable point of Psalm 72, I suggest, is the non-negotiable linkage of just restoration for the vulnerable and societal wellbeing (and eventually environmental wellbeing).
On the Passing of Frederick Buechner
A word from Frederick Buechner's son-in-law, David Altshuler, about the passing of this giant.
Margaret Marcuson: The Pinch of Little Things
It’s easy to put up with things that don’t quite work. Should you?
Mitch Carnell: Everyone Needs Encouragement
Our families, friends and neighbors are hurting. They are struggling. After two years of the Coved virus, isolation, the difficulty of obtaining supplies, school and drive-by shootings and now inflation have converged to take the fight out of so many.
Susan Sparks: The Holy Power of Being a Caregiver
Like Moses, we’ve all felt the burn while holding up the weight of the world. Maybe some of you are feeling that right now, especially if you are a caregiver.
Greg Cootsona: How Judaism Engages Science: My Conversation with Geoff Mitelman
Last week, I looked at how Islam interacts with modern science. In this installment, I’m talking with Geoffrey Mitelman, a friend and colleague, who’s also the director of Sinai and Synapses, a Jewish science and religion organization.
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: Justice (Psalm 103:6,8)
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the 11th Sunday after Pentecost. Here is this week’s reading from the Psalms
Walter Brueggemann: The Ethical Dignity of the Other
It is the work of the church to be about the “ethical dignity of the other.” In order to address this task with sustained intentionality, it is acutely necessary that we examine our own history and inheritance. When we do that, we discover that the Bible yields a very mixed scorecard on the matter of the “other” and the ethical dignity of the “other.”
Greg Cootsona: How Islam Engages Science: An interview with Nidhal Guessoum
Writing a book on science and religions (in the plural) introduced me to one of the key thought leaders on Islam and science, Algerian-born astrophysicist and NASA scientist Nidhal Guessoum. In my interview with him, you may be fascinated to learn that Islamic leaders grapple with some of the same anti-science attitudes that Christian leaders face.
Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: Run With Perseverence (Hebrews 12:1-2)
In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick Buechner reading on the same topic. Next Sunday we will celebrate the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. Here is this week’s reading from the book of Hebrews...
Walter Brueggemann: Strange Business
Here is a new word you may not know, “schismogenesis,” that taken literally means “originated in a split.”