From Emilie Griffin, a Christian spirituality for the later years

Philip Jenkins' new book challenges common wisdom about how lofty Christian doctrine was formulated amid human chaos.

Some months ago my wife and I stood in the square facing the dome and western facade of St Mark rsquo s Basilica in Venice We marveled at the intriguing blend of Eastern and Western architecture before us We later visited the chapel in the crypt where the body of St Mark had lain for several ce

A skilled author can introduce ideas that change a reader rsquo s consciousness In Disciples of All Nations Lamin Sanneh delivers just that Before engaging directly this important book let me briefly digress to illustrate such a ldquo perspective changing rdquo moment from personal experience

The North Atlantic captivity of the church is drawing to an end The center of Christian gravity is undeniably shifting southward This development is not a blip on the religious radar screen but a profound permutation Globally a major gravitational adjustment is occurring in the population density

In the years between the death of Martin Luther King Jr in 1968 and the end of the 20th century the Rev William Sloane Coffin Jr was the most influential liberal Protestant in America He never achieved King rsquo s level of influence but the media-friendly and pervasive force of his personalit

In his foreword to Finding the Treasure Within A Woman rsquo s Journey into Preaching the spiritual author Ronald Rolheiser O M I writes We are forever caught up in situations that are less than ideal full of tension and fraught with potential for self-pity and bitterness So what can we