Millennials are increasingly leaving the church and, unlike other generations, they are not coming back when they "settle down." But if they were brought to church as children, by both parents, they are staying with the church. Unless, as is increasingly happening, they marry outside the faith.
Peter Burfeind writes about the connection between self-love and melancholy, tracing today's separation between the self and the physical world back through the Middle Ages and its recovery of Gnosticism. The remedy, says Burfeind, is Luther's emphasis on going "outside ourselves"--to Christ, the Sacraments, our neighbors, and Vocation.
Speculation has arisen about the possibility of robots serving as ministers. Already robots have been programmed to do the chanting at Buddhist funerals and give blessings at a state church (in Wittenberg, no less!). This exemplifies the functionalist misunderstanding of ministry, which is not a set of tasks but a vocation. Does God call robots? Can a machine be ordained?
The United Methodist Church has arrived at an agreement that will accept same-sex marriage and gay ordination, while helping those who disagree to leave to form their own denomination.
The lethal drone known as the Reaper that killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani may have ignited another war in the Middle East--this time between the United States and Iran. Or, as I think, it may prove to be the catalyst for our final withdrawal from that region once and for all.
Pope Francis has said that Christians should not try to "convince" non-Christians to change their religion and that anyone who tries to "proselytize" an unbeliever is "not a disciple of Jesus." But what did St. Peter and other actual disciples of Jesus do?
Medical science is learning more and more about pregnancy and fetal development. We now know that there is a "radical mutuality" in the relationship between the mother and her child in the womb. Both work together to build the placenta. And just as cells from the mother's body become part of the baby, cells from the baby become part of the mother.
The custom on this blog on New Year's Day is for readers to predict what they think will happen over the course of the year ahead. Then, once the year is over, on or around the next New Year’s Eve, we will revisit those predictions and see who made the best one. So what do you think will happen in 2020?
We celebrate New Years' Eve by staying up past midnight, singing Auld Lang Syne, and checking our predictions for 2019! This year we had an unusually high number of correct predictions, which is a tribute to you readers of this blog. But we also had a clear winner, a prediction with uncanny specificity.
A look at the Associated Press top stories of 2019 and NBC's top stories of the decade. But what do these lists tell us about those who compiled them? And what did they leave out?
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