James Carroll's article starts out with noble intentions: "By finding a new way to read and hear this story [of Jesus' crucifixion we can] overcome the suspicion that Christianity is inevitably a source of Jew-hatred." But Carroll doesn't go on to talk about how we are all guilty of crucifying Christ or the reasons Jesus died. Instead, he attacks the Bible: "Many, if not most, of the details around the Gospel rendition of that event are more like fiction than 'fact.'" If you think that's bad, read Carroll's conclusion: "The church proclaims the Jew-hating texts of the Gospels not against the Jews, but against itself, the clearest signal yet of its need, too, to be forgiven." In other words, the only way to not be a Jew-hating Christian is to throw out the Gospels.

A much better article in The Boston Globe looks at Ann Wroe's new book, Pontius Pilate. "Without his climactic judgment of Jesus, the world would not have been saved," Wroe writes. "Without Christ's death—pronounced by Pilate—there would have been no Resurrection, no founding Christian miracle." The Globe gives the American editor of The Economist high marks for the book, which is more a compilation of historical speculations about Pilate legends than a strict historical account of Pilate's life itself.

To be perfectly honest, ChristianityToday.com Weblog is unaware of any reproductive function of the eyebrows. Perhaps Roman Catholic clergy really are out-of-touch sexually. On a more serious note, that a Catholic bishop would encourage birth control (As Rt. Rev. Patrick Dunn, ...