Contrary to the pervasive “sacred-secular” dichotomy that infects many Christians’ view of the world of “ordinary” work, the Bible has a comprehensive and positive understanding of God’s involvement in the public arena, from creation to new creation, providing perspectives that should govern our ethical, missional, and pastoral engagement with it.
Young reviews Gina Oschner’s critically acclaimed novel THE RUSSIAN DREAMBOOK OF COLOR AND FLIGHT, with an eye to how the novel’s post-Soviet characters mirror Young’s own experience living with her missionary family in Latvia.
The Old Testament recognizes that riches can be gained through wickedness and oppression, but it also teaches and exemplifies that those to whom God grants more than ordinary wealth can and should make use of it in ways that are righteous before God, both in attitude and in practice.
A mother reflects on the opportunities for moral growth, generosity, and compassion presented by our current economic crisis.
In this essay David Horstkoetter sets straight the false narrative by Glenn Beck on James Cone, black liberation theology, and the gospel.
This essay asks, “What is money for?” and, in light of the current banking crisis, proposes that lending and borrowing can and should be ordered to the common good.
In “Marrow,” Amy McCann finds something sinister in the supposed comfort and beauty of a late summer evening, the birds roosting at dusk “something to nerve to.”
D. S. Martin’s “Extrapolations” considers what lies beyond our immediate perceptions and wonders if unseen wonder lies beneath the surface of our landscapes.
Geoffrey Holsclaw gives a brief history of social impetus for capitalism and considers the Eucharist as a true paradigm for economic exchange.
In this targum of Romans 1:16-32, Brian J. Walsh offers a creative and contemporary interpretation of a portion of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Rome.
In this essay, Bob Goudzwaard and Mark Vander Vennen argue that genuine solutions to today’s interlocking global crises—the financial crisis, global poverty, the environmental crisis, the security crisis—lie in understanding the purpose of life beyond Western society’s commitment to unending material, economic, and technological progress.
A review of James K. A. Smith’s *The Devil Reads Derrida and Other Essays on the University, the Church, Politics, and the Arts.*
Jeff Keuss discusses the hit TV series *Lost*, including its finale, in light of Augustine’s concepts of love and creation.
In this interview, Professor Andrew Bacevich discusses American exceptionalism, foreign policy, the irony of American history, and the place of war in U.S. culture.
A poem about having hope for now, not “an appetite for this or that concocted future.”
A review of Daniel Bell Jr.’s JUST WAR AS CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP: RECENTERING THE TRADITION IN THE CHURCH RATHER THAN THE STATE.
In this interview, Sister Marilyn Lacey of Mercy Beyond Borders discusses her new memoir, *This Flowing Toward Me*, her fear of spiders, her work with refugees, and the surprising movement of God’s grace.
In this interview, Peter Heltzel talks about his book JESUS AND JUSTICE and what is at stake in telling histories from the voices of the exploited and oppressed.
Jason Byassee examines fatherhood, mortality, resurrection, and the hope of a good surf.
A postmodern mindset is cool toward institutions, but a robust Christian vision for global economic and political change must embrace them and turn them toward “loving” purposes.
In this photo exhibit, Scott Strazzante juxtaposes images from a cattle-ranching family and a family living in a subdevelopment several years later on the same land to reveal the differences, complexities, and similarities between farm life and suburbia life.
Read within the context of his first two encyclicals, DEUS CARITAS EST and SPE SALVI, Pope Benedict XVI’s third encyclical, CARITAS IN VERITATE, presents a unified philosophical and theological vision that grounds authentic human development in the fundamental Christian virtues of hope and love.
A critical review by James K. A. Smith of Francis Beckwith’s RETURN TO ROME.
Dubai and Nairobi represent two ends of the poverty/wealth spectrum, but which one is really wealthy?
The current worldwide economic crisis and financial meltdown can be understood as the inherent result of globalized consumer capitalism, a “capitalism without capital,” which in the analysis of philosopher Slavoj ?i?ek, could lead to fascism.
A poem by Timothy E. Bartel.
In this interview, Lisa Sharon Harper discusses her evangelical faith and the relationship between evangelicalism and politics, the economy, and social justice activism.
In this interview, Lisa Sharon Harper tells of the work her organization, New York Faith and Justice, is doing to bring economic and social justice to the powerless in New York City.
A look at the current economic crisis through a Lukan parable.
Here in part three of this interview, Eugene McCarraher talks about, among other things, the Manhattan Declaration, Radical Orthodoxy, and Herbert McCabe.
In part two of this three-part interview, Christian historian and cultural critic Eugene McCarraher reflects on the “Obama Doctrine,” Niebuhrian realism, and the usefulness of maps.
A review of James Cameron’s new film AVATAR that explores the historical and theological ideas of the film.
In part one of this three-part interview, Christian historian and cultural critic Eugene McCarraher reflects on a difficult decade and the implications of the Tiger Woods and political scandals that dominated the 2009 news cycle.
An introduction to The Other Journal’s 18th edition: The Economy and Hope Issue.
In this essay, Jeff McSwain describes the theological issues involved in his controversial departure from Young Life in 2007.
In this interview, Josh Butler describes his work with the Advent Conspiracy, an organization that challenges popular consumerist responses to Christmas and seeks to recapture that sense that there is something prophetic and countercultural about Christmas, that a different kingdom is being celebrated when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.