Serious waiting
For many of us, Advent is the most meaningful season of the church year. It’s not passive waiting; it’s living into the promised future.read more
View ArticleChristmas truce
The Christmas truce of 1914—100 years ago this Christmas Eve—gave the world a glimpse of peace in a horrific time.read more
View ArticleWhat the church is made of
Churches need new thinking—on the part of denominational executives, pastors brave enough to walk into challenging situations, and people willing to let go of a church model that no longer works.read more
View ArticleTortured ends and means
Reinhold Niebuhr once broke with the editor of this magazine to argue that moral responsibility requires resisting evil with force. It’s a compelling argument, but it doesn’t justify torture.read more
View ArticlePolice encounters
We are confronting a reality that for some of us was just an abstraction: black and white communities perceive the police differently and are treated differently by them.read more
View ArticleMuslim neighbors
I watched on TV as Muslims at a conference were confronted by protesters carrying American flags and signs: “America is a Christian Nation. Muslims Are Not Welcome!”read more
View ArticleCommunion thirst
My Presbyterian granddaughter hasn’t heard about 500 years of conflict over “the real presence.” At her cousins' Catholic church, she washed down the wafer with a large gulp from the cup—and then...
View ArticleA different kind of power
Some suggest the tragedy in Charleston would have been averted if Pastor Clementa Pinckney had been carrying a gun. The victims' families showed us another way.read more
View ArticleReligion and politics do mix
Our beliefs inform how we live, how we order our priorities, how we spend our time and money, and how we vote. The recent papal encyclical takes this as given.read more
View ArticleBorn again and again
When I told my parents about the altar call, my mother patiently explained that for some of us conversion is an ongoing process.read more
View ArticleOceanside reading
Something about being close to the ocean is conducive to reading.read more
View ArticleRepenting for our prisons
Imprisonment in this country is long on punishment and shamefully short on rehabilitation.read more
View ArticleA time for change
There is a time for everything, the preacher in Ecclesiastes observed. It is now time for new leadership at the Century.read more
View ArticleOutliers
It is intriguing that the Republican presidential candidate who's leading the polls and the Democratic candidate who's close to tying the front-runner are both outliers.read more
View ArticleA woman’s decision
My wife volunteered as an "accompanier" at Planned Parenthood. She found that each client came with a unique urgent set of circumstances.read more
View ArticleDoing one thing well
Independent, single-purpose organizations have picked up pieces of what the church used to do.read more
View ArticleVirtue politics
Virtue, says former senator John Danforth, is what's missing from the current political equation—and the church is a place where virtue can be taught and advocated.read more
View ArticleZechariah’s problem
A preacher's nightmare is to be in front of an eager congregation and realize your notes are missing. No wonder one of my favorite Bible stories is about a clergyperson who's rendered speechless.read more
View ArticleWelcome intrusion
I went to church full of dread after the recent terrorist attacks. Worship included dedicating a new pipe organ. Was it appropriate to be celebrating in the midst of the hatred and fear?read more
View ArticleStepping down
I’ve appreciated the Christian Century since a fellow divinity student put a copy in my hand. As I step down as editor-publisher, I’m aware more than ever of the need for a steady voice thinking...
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