What was the Passover like at the time of Jesus? What were the Jewish hopes for the Messiah? What was Jesus' purpose in institutionalizing the Eucharist during the feast of Passover? These questions are at the heart of Catholic scholar Brant Pitre's new book, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist. Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be hosting a discussion about the mystery of Communion here at Take & Read, as part of our late February book club on Pitre's book. We hope you'll join the conversation by adding a comment or two here about your own experience and understanding of this central sacrament of the Christian faith. Read more

The chains ranged from fist-sized iron links to thumb-sized steel loops, but none of them were light. Heads bowed, students in black Human Wrong shirts stood for hours linked together in a row, weighed down by ropes of chains—a “human illustration” of modern-day slavery. Read more

From s’mores and midnight volleyball to art walls and dudes in morphsuits playing Twister, McDaniel College’s ACT:S To End Malaria “Night of Nets” event the other week took off in an explosion of creativity. The success of the night proved two things: that advocacy has no creative limits, and that passion is catching. Read more

Lydia Bullock, a junior at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington, D.C., sees Valentine’s Day as a perfect chance to reach out to people. A year ago, she had helped start the club Corcoran Students Against Human Trafficking at her school, and the group built their first activism campaign around Valentine’s Day 2010. Read more

"I have found that faith is essential to this work because the victories are seldom, and hard-fought." Our third "Modern Mobilizer" shares his story of faith-inspired activism. Read more

As part of our current Book Club on Adam Taylor's new book "Mobilizing Hope," we invited a handful of "modern mobilizers" to share their stories of how they are mobilizing hope in their communities. This post is from Lisa Sharon Harper from NY Faith & Justice. Read more

There is no individual, no set of gifts or strengths that cannot be given over to the task of mobilizing hope, of being transformed nonconformists. “Mobilizing Hope: Faith Inspired Activism For A Post-Civil Rights Generation” shows us that godly activism is both a universal vocation of every Christian and able to be practiced in ways that incorporate anyone and everyone willing to follow Christ. Are you willing? Am I? Read more

"Community organizing is about believing the world can be different; that we can make concrete changes that bring us closer to the world God desires, if we work together across the lines that too often divide us." The first of our "Modern Mobilizers" responds... Read more

Mobilizing Hope is a primer, a handbook, an inspirational memoir and a framework for putting your faith into action. Join us at the Take & Read blog as we share stories and conversations from "modern mobilizers" about what it mean to mobilize hope in this generation, in this time. Read more

Quite frankly I was very skeptical reading this book at first. I mean, really, what can Jay Bakker, a onetime drunk and drug user, who also happens to be the son of Jimmy and Tammy Faye Bakker tell me about grace, let alone the Bible, theology, and contemporary Church culture? I was surprised. Read more