By Molly T. Marshall This past Sunday in Overland Park, Kan., a rabid anti-Semite, gun-wielding white supremacist drove into the parking lot at the Jewish Community Center with the intent to kill. And he succeeded. He shot a grandfather and…
True champions don’t worry about the score
By Will Baker A grueling season of competition has come to an end. The final game in the NCAA Basketball Tournament (March Madness) has been played and the champion has been crowned. At least that’s what we are supposed to…
Finding the associate pastor you need
The role of the associate pastor or minister is one that many churches think they cannot afford. In reality, the are a variety of ministry callings that do not involve staffing a full-time pastor or minister. In many cases, the…
Holy Week reflection: Toward a humble, repentant church
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee Holy Week converges for me with the conclusion of a semester in which I have been teaching seminar courses about the Holocaust and about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This week the brilliant Bonhoeffer scholar Jennifer McBride…
‘Mad Men’ as an exploration of human fallenness
By Steven Harmon “I keep wondering: have I broken the vessel?” Don Draper’s mid-flirtation confession to his airline seatmate in the April 13 premiere of the seventh (and final) season of the AMC drama Mad Men may prove to be…
A plastic feast, part 1
On a recent Sunday evening I tuned in to watch the Fox and National Geographic Channel’s presentation of Cosmos. While I am a generation too late to have been around for Carl Sagan’s original series by the same title, I…
So the papyrus is genuine. What now?
By Miguel De La Torre A faded tiny scrap of papyrus caused an uproar when first unveiled in 2012. Why? Because this ancient fragment contains the phrases: “Jesus said to them, My wife…” and “she will be able to be…
In defense of a peaceable Jesus
By Derek C. Hatch Once the liturgical calendar rolls around to Palm Sunday and then to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection, we hear constant reminders that first-century Jews expected Jesus to be the Messiah, but were not anticipating a Messiah…
More reflections on the rising student debt: A Latina Christian perspective
Recently I wrote a blog about student debt, and I received a comment that is worth exploring: “An essential piece of this puzzle relates to why the cost of higher education has escalated so dramatically, so as to make student…
My wife and I are partners
By Barrett Owen When it comes to changing diapers, I wish my wife and I weren’t egalitarian, but we are. Our marriage is an equal partnership. We listen for God’s guidance together and apart. We communicate our needs and express…
Want to change your congregation? Find a crisis
Five years ago I spent two weeks in the hospital. I did not enjoy it. It was for a reason that had been creeping up on me for about a month. I had been to my doctor—a general practitioner–twice during…
The War on Poverty: A young Baptist’s experience
By Bill Leonard In the year that Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, I worked for the War on Poverty in Dallas County, Texas. It was 1968, the summer after I graduated from Texas Wesleyan and took…