On June 19, 2014, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted to allow their pastors to perform “same-gender marriages in civil jurisdictions where such marriages are legal.”[1] As expected, this has caused no small hubbub among American Christians. While gay rights advocates and Christians on the left have lauded this progressive decision and praised the denomination for […]
The Theory of Everything is a film potentially about so much it runs into the problem of deciding what it has to say. The marriage of Stephen Hawking and Jane Wilde is well publicized – the subject of two separate and lengthy accounts by Wilde. The first, Music to Move the Stars gave way a few years […]
Each Friday we compile a list of interesting links and articles our editors find from across the web. Here’s what’s catching our eye this week. Paul Miller gave up the Internet for a year. Here’s his story: I was wrong. One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I […]
As many TOJ readers know, this October saw the release of Marilynne Robinson’s latest novel, Lila. This was cause for great rejoicing among her many fans and a chance for those who can’t see the genius of her work to point that out again. As an unapologetic fan I’ve already finished the novel and was […]
As Bruce Ellis Benson’s recent book Liturgy as a Way of Life reminds us, “in making art, we always start with something.”[1] To be an artist is not to create ex nihilo but to creatively reinterpret and rework the preexisting forms of art, nature, and culture—including the stories and images that shape and direct our […]
Each Friday we compile a list of interesting links and articles our editors find from across the web. Here’s what’s catching our eye this week. Are Major League Baseball games too long? And is that hurting its viewership? When the World Series rolls around, as it has again this year, there are statistics (wins, losses, […]
I grew up in a mile-square beachfront town sixty miles south of New York City. From the time I was six years old, when my family left its North Jersey urban roots, every summer day was spent on the beach. When my sister and I were old enough, we peddled there on our bikes to […]
Each Friday we compile a list of interesting links and articles our editors find from across the web. Here’s what’s catching our eye this week. It’s widely known that Americans spend a lot of money on Halloween. But did you know they spend $350 million on their pets’ costumes? U.S. retail sales were disappointing in […]
Ten years ago this fall I entered seminary to pursue my M.Div. and, I thought, a career as a campus pastor at a Christian college. The “calling” to the pastorate was one I’d felt early in my life, and I took that call seriously during my time in seminary. I thought often about the past, […]