The Christian Century articles

Recent articles from The Christian Century

Poor criteria.(CENTURY marks)(Brief article)
June 30, 2009... POOR CRITERIA: When writer Paul Wilkes helped start a ministry to the poor and homeless in Brooklyn, supporters discussed whether they should use some criteria to identify the truly needy. Wilkes's spontaneous response was: "Just that they come to us, literally begging, says enough. Let's not...

No entrance.(CENTURY marks)(Brief article)
June 30, 2009... NO ENTRANCE: D. Erickson, writer of a letter in the Sun magazine (April), recalls how his family's life revolved around the Catholic parish where his mother served as catechism coordinator. She also liked to spar over theology with their aging, lovable priest. When word leaked out that the...

Held responsible.(CENTURY marks)(Brief article)
June 30, 2009... HELD RESPONSIBLE: Should people be held responsible for decisions they made when they didn't know what they were doing? The usual answer is no. But theologian Stanley Hauerwas says that that response makes marriage unintelligible. "Of course you did not know what you were doing when you...

Which Niebuhr?(CENTURY marks)(Reinhold Niebuhrs)(Brief article)
June 30, 2009... WHICH NIEBUHR? There were many Reinhold Niebuhrs: the onetime socialist and pacifist, the realist supporter of the New Deal and World War II, the anticommunist who eventually critiqued anticommunism and the Vietnam War. And today there are many who claim Niebuhr on the right, left and in...

Won't go.(CENTURY marks)(Victor Agosto refuses deployment to afghanistan)(Brief article)
June 30, 2009... WON'T GO: Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who spent 13 months deployed in Iraq, has refused an army order to go to Afghanistan. He was originally scheduled to be discharged at the end of June, but in keeping with the stop-loss program the army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan....