Medieval Illuminiation
By Steve Beard -- Dublin was still rubbing sleep from its eyes. It was the crack of dawn. Well, not literally – it just seemed that way. The sidewalks along historic statue-lined O’Connell Street were largely empty as I paced toward Trinity College on the south side...
Can These Bones Live?
By Kimberly Constant -- Ezekiel stood, looking out across a valley filled with bones that stretched as far as he could see. Bones that were brittle. Bleached by the relentless sun and worn down by the ravages of time. Bones which represented the once proud nation of...
Commentary: Now Is the Moment to Debunk the Evangelical Takeover Myth
By Elizabeth Glass Turner - “What we are facing is a classic Evangelical Takeover. We are the Southern Baptist Church, 30 years later. Those behind the Evangelical takeover are well funded, well-organized, and have no interest in taking prisoners.” Those who raise an...
Why the “local option” is not the answer
By Rob Renfroe - Recently a progressive United Methodist pastor said to me, “I don’t understand why you can’t accept the local option. It lets pastors who want to marry gay couples do so. But it doesn’t compel people like you to perform such ceremonies. It allows...
Respect or Contempt
By Rob Renfroe - Soon we will know which plan or plans the United Methodist Council of Bishops will recommend to the extraordinary General Conference in St. Louis. In just a matter of months we will learn how the Council proposes to resolve our denomination’s...
Suffering for the Sake of Christ
By Courtney Lott - Hannah Cho grew up in North Korea, a country where Christians suffer the widest extent of persecution in the world. Along with her husband, Cho was mercilessly tortured for her faith in internment camps. “My mother only taught me one prayer,” she...
Liberty’s Hero: Frederick Douglass
Liberty's Hero: Frederick Douglass By Steve Beard - Frederick Douglass grew up under the perverse shackles of slavery on a plantation in Maryland 200 years ago. He never knew the identity of his father, barely saw his mother, and witnessed unspeakable violence and...
The Future to the Present
By Stephen A. Seamands - “Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present.” — N.T. Wright It makes all the difference in the world whether someone is dead or alive. That’s why, according to New Testament...
