By Paul Louis Metzger and Tom Krattenmaker Why is it that while talk abounds of growing racial diversity in our country, a new wave of voting restrictions is sweeping over parts of the country and falling hardest on minorities? Perhaps there is more than coincidence at play. The Supreme Court’s reframing of the Voting Rights Act to make the individual states responsible for overseeing voting procedures has led many to fear the return of Jim Crow era policies to the country’s polling... Read more

The movie Patch Adams addresses the subject of health care in a holistic manner. The movie is about the story of Hunter D. “Patch” Adams, whose Gesundheit! Institute “is a project in holistic medical care based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, the world, and the health care system itself.” This statement on the complex connection betwen the health care system and various other forms of health comes through... Read more

How many decision makers passing the bill to cut $40 billion from food stamps over the next decade actually know someone on food stamps? Debate rages in Washington among lawmakers on whether or not the bill would impact only those trying to milk the system. I know people on food stamps—hard-working people, people in difficult situations, people who need food stamps to survive. They are fearful that they will not be able to obtain basic food necessities to stay afloat in... Read more

What difference does the Trinity make for Christian thought and life? While opinions vary, I share Lesslie Newbigin’s conviction that when many Christians think of God, they don’t call to mind the Father, Son, and Spirit, but the great divine monad. Newbigin maintains that Greek philosophy and Islamic thought have combined to shape the Christian imagination since the High Middle Ages, replacing the Trinitarian perspectives of the fathers of the first four centuries of Christian history.[1] Newbigin is not alone... Read more

A professional clown informed a group of amateurs such as myself that “You don’t have to be in make-up” to fulfill the calling of a clown. She was talking about our calling as Christians to make ourselves vulnerable. The clown in question, Trudi Sang, is chair of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins‘ student community. Trudi was giving a talk to us on the New Wine, New Wineskins community formation retreat on how to be Christian leaders. She was drawing from... Read more