“Jesus Christ, Superstar, do you think you’re what they say you are?” A memorable lyric from the 1971 Broadway musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. And also a poignant question for today as American Christians seem to gravitate…
After 30 years, the NRSV gets an update: Here’s what that means
In a nation where the 1611 King James Version of the Bible still holds tremendous sway, imagine the challenges of updating one of the modern English translations of the Good Book. That’s why Friendship Press, the National Council of Churches…
Lesson learned: While lifting up women we unwittingly put down those who cannot stand
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” — Maya Angelou On March 1, the first day of Women’s History Month, Baptist Women in Ministry introduced a new name for its monthly…
Blessed are both new wineskins and new wine
Expressing the words of the Bible in contemporary language has a long history, as an internet search demonstrates by noting that “the earliest translation into a vernacular European language other than Latin or Greek was the Gothic Bible, by Ulfilas,…
An interview with a Cameroonian pastor who fled persecution but has high hopes for his side to win the war at home
Cameroon is at war because God did not approve the union between the French and English-speaking people. — Taku-Ayuk Moses One of the world’s worst conflicts in recent years is the crisis in Cameroon, where separatist groups in the southern…
Here’s something to try on for size: Talk about things that are ‘more-than-human’
In our world of ecological precarity, I’ve been exploring what it would mean to move beyond doing environmental justice, to living in a different relationship with beings beyond the human. I think about this relationship both with those beings we…
What our languages are telling us, part 2
By John Chandler Last column, I wrote about global trends in spoken languages. I’d like to follow up with observations from writer David Pegg about which of these languages are waxing and waning in global influence. Ranking by impact rather…
What our languages are telling us
By John Chandler Language creates culture. What we say, and how we say it, not only reflects who we are but also shapes what we will become. With that in mind, we can forecast where the world is heading by…