quot To know Joan of Arc quot wrote Mark Twain in his fanciful yet earnest quot translation quot of her life in 1896 quot was to know one who was wholly noble pure truthful brave compassionate generous pious unselfish modest blameless as the very flowers in the fields nature fine an

The past as one historian aptly put it has become a quot foreign country quot This is true even of our own Christian past Though much has remained the same much has at the same time changed in the landscape of our faith rendering the Christianity of the past a quot foreign country quot to

With this accessible yet critically responsible examination Paula Fredriksen the Aurelio Professor of Scripture at Boston University has made a significant contribution to the continuing debate concerning the historical Jesus Right from the start her book rsquo s several virtues ought gladly to

As an 11-year-old boy Thomas Berry probing the red hills of his home in North Carolina skipped across a creek and found himself in a meadow Seeing the white lilies cresting above the dense grass he listened to the crickets rsquo song drift toward the distant woods and the wisps of cloud in the

Suicide is a major mental health problem that touches all our lives The incidence of suicide is frighteningly highthere are few among us who do not know a friend or family member who has either attempted or committed suicide and no one of us is immune from its reach We have much to learn from tho

Patrick Tyler The New York Times rsquo s Beijing bureau chief from 1993 to 1997 begins his history of U S relations with China by emphasizing the risk of war between the People rsquo s Republic and Taiwan American presidents have sought to deter such a war and since 1972 have endorsed the idea o