Interviews
A musician meets Flannery O’Connor at the crossroads
“She made room for me to wrestle,” says North Carolina songwriter Colin Cutler, “room for doubt, for the idea that grace might move even when belief gets messy.”
The inverse wisdom of a second-century martyr
“Perpetua was a grandstander,” says Sarah Ruden. “She saw martyrdom—and that means testimony—as a personal glorification.”
Being devoted to being inspired
“We spend a lot of time identifying kids with talent and training them on technique,” says writer Carey Wallace. “But there’s virtually no rigorous thought on inspiration.”
Science is finally catching up with Teilhard de Chardin
Frank and Mary Frost, the filmmakers behind a recent PBS documentary about the Jesuit paleontologist, have long seen him as a true visionary.
When religion joins the UFO conversation
“The nexus of religion, technology, and culture is more interrelated than most people assume,” says professor and filmmaker Brett Robinson.
Queering is for everyone
“What are we looking for when we’re looking for queer?” asks theologian Lisa Isherwood. “I’m looking for a wider picture of incarnation.”
The people still gathering at 38th and Chicago
“Stop giving us a reason to still be out here,” says George Floyd Square protest leader Marcia Howard. ”Give me a reason to go in the house!”
The D.C. church that beat the Proud Boys in court now owns their name
“There was no disagreement as to whether we should engage,” says Metropolitan AME pastor Bill Lamar, “but there was definitely a risk calculation.”
Defending dignity at the National Cathedral
“We’re constantly saying what we’re against,” says Martin Dickinson, a lay leader at the cathedral’s sanctuary ministry, “and that’s necessary. But what are we for? Migration with Dignity gives us a framework.”
A study Bible for Anabaptism’s birthday
“This is not a Bible just for Mennonites,” says Anabaptism at 500 project director John Roth.
Reading into the gaps
“Because certain scribal puns appear only in Galatians,” says Candida Moss, “we have to consider that they come from the secretary rather than Paul.”
Cultivating literary Dallas
“It was not enough to publish books,” says Deep Vellum founder Will Evans. “We needed a place to invite people in, to put literature at the core of the cultural community.”
Palestinian and Christian in a violent time
“What does it mean to be church amid these very harsh circumstances?” asks Bethlehem pastor Munther Isaac.
The making of God
“I don’t believe in God as character,” says poet Pádraig Ó Tuama, “but I do believe in God as plot.”
Other Jewish voices
“When unqualified support for Israel is categorized as Jewish,” says historian Marjorie Feld, “it erases dissent and flattens Jewish life.”
Our unseen companions
“Angels, saints, and ancestors are real presences that are not visible to us in our linear, rational mind,” says Abbey of the Arts founder Christine Valters Paintner.