Steve Bell: Music is a tilling of soil
Music breaks open hard ground, preparing it for a seed to be planted, says the Canadian singer-songwriter and Christian musician.
Theological Reflection
Most Recently Published
La Lapidation de saint Étienne, painting by Charles LeBrun (1619-1690)
C. Kavin Rowe: Suffering is part of thriving
Final essay in a seven-part series. If we expect to see the kingdom of God, writes the New Testament scholar, we should expect to suffer.
Laura Stern: Cut off or cast away?
As a tough winter gives way to spring, a pastor on an island cut off many times during the season wonders if her church has fared a little too well in isolation.
Laura E. Everett: The face of an institution
What does it mean theologically to be the 'face' of a Christian institution? The director of the Massachusetts Council of Churches offers four suggestions.
Mark Ralls: It’s not a ship; it’s a boat
A family cruise to Alaska left a landlubber pastor confused about seafaring lingo from starboard to port. But on this point he is certain: the church is not a ship; it’s a boat.
Creating the conditions to nurture hope
The current situation facing Christian institutions can evoke fear. Yet we can, and should, recover hope by grounding our work in the hope of the resurrection and new life.
C. Kavin Rowe: Orienting hierarchies toward the good
The New Testament illustrates the wisdom of shaping a hierarchy toward a community’s public witness and the importance of Christian character for leaders.
Anna Marazuela Kim answers: Why does iconoclasm continue to matter?
The history of iconoclasm, or image breaking, reveals much about our continuing and complex relationship to images, giving insight into larger questions concerning the sacred and the profane, materiality and spirituality, religion and modernity, says an art historian.
Putting an end to institutional amnesia
We need to recover and tell the stories of our organizations to see ourselves and our God more clearly.
Marc Brettler: The danger of saying, 'The Bible says...'
The Bible is not a modern work but an ancient anthology of many voices, says a noted Hebrew Bible scholar. So be careful about saying, "The Bible says . . .," because on almost every subject, it has more than one perspective.