Ponder these short parables: The king of a great land was about to take a long journey. He called his top three officials together. “I am putting you in charge while I am gone,” he
Let’s ponder the promise and peril of populism. Or maybe the triumph and terror of populism. Follow the news for a random hour, and you’ll probably hear the words populism and populist. “Populist revolt.” “populist
I walk into a shopping mall. In a central courtyard is a beautiful floor made of different colors and sizes of tiles. Admiring the floor, I start to wonder whether the tiles are laid
Taking a class in medieval Christian worship at Notre Dame in 1975, I quickly learned what BVM meant. Blessed Virgin Mary. Not Bureau of Motor Vehicles. This is the season when we especially remember Mary,
The most important book of 2016 is The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire, by Alan Kreider (Baker Academic, 2016, 321 pp.). I say this after
When it comes to politics . . . Since I believe in Jesus and the kingdom of God, I believe: The Lord God is a God of righteousness, justice, holiness, truth, and love—all qualities that
Most people these days know something about Pocahontas. Some even know the true story of her conversion to Christianity, and perhaps of the catechetical instruction she went through. But most people don’t know what happened
Jesus says in John 14, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
When he comes, Messiah “will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street.” Yet “he will not grow faint or be crushed,” and in God’s own way
John Wesley said God’s providence is a key Christian truth. “There is scarce any doctrine in the whole compass of revelation which is of deeper importance than this” (Sermon 67, “On Divine Providence,” Par. 7).
Should Christians support welfare for the rich? It might make sense. If the rich get richer, everyone benefits. Pour water into a cup long enough and it flows down abundantly, giving everyone a drink. I
Perhaps you heard them discussing it on the radio: MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle’s new book, Reclaiming Conversation (Penguin, 2015, 436 pp.). The discussion caught my ear because of this quote: “Studies
