Faith

Thoughts about how Christianity affects our every day lives

Love Is Slow, but It LastsFinal thoughts on family, faith, and what matters most.
Love Is Slow, but It Lasts
Image: Chris Capozziello

When I first met my husband I was 16 years old. I would have said I fell in love with him immediately. We stood in the darkness of an October night and talked and talked. Two months later we exchanged those words—I love you—also whispered in the dark of night. But it took five more years ...

"Looking for Ways to Build Bridges"A conversation with CT editor Katelyn Beaty about blogging, books, and what's next.
"Looking for Ways to Build Bridges"
Image: Kuster & Wildhaber Photography

Fifteen months ago, this blog began with a conversation with Katelyn Beaty about my hopes and dreams for Thin Places. As I conclude this blog, we thought it fitting to have a concluding conversation as well. Katelyn and I had a chance to talk about the most exciting and most challenging aspects of ...

Nine Favorite Posts from Thin Places The best of faith, family, disability, and culture as I say goodbye to blogging.
Nine Favorite Posts from Thin Places
Image: flickr

One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is that I get to write about pretty much anything that is on my mind and might connect with readers. Over the past 15 months of blogging for Christianity Today, I've written or edited nearly 200 posts. As I wrote last week, many posts soar to the top of ...

Why this Evangelical is Grateful for the Mainline ChurchGiving thanks for God’s work throughout the church universal.
Why this Evangelical is Grateful for the Mainline Church
Image: Bradley N. Weber

I hope that if I counted myself as a member of a “liberal” denomination, I would be writing a post about my gratitude for the contributions of evangelicals to proclaiming God’s glory in the church and in the world. Instead, as an evangelical, I am here to say thank you to the Catholics ...

Has Mindfulness Supplanted Thoughtfulness?Love always requires sacrifice.
Has Mindfulness Supplanted Thoughtfulness?
Image: Βethan

“Mindfulness” is a buzzword these days. As a recent article in the Sunday New York Times points out:

. . . mindfulness has come to comprise a dizzying range of meanings for popular audiences. It’s an intimately attentive frame of mind. It’s a relaxed-alert frame of mind. ...
Why I'm Grateful for Mainstream MediaFair treatment for Christians by secular journalists
Why I'm Grateful for Mainstream Media
Image: NS Newsflash/flickr

I read and listen to a lot of news. NPR plays in the background as I’m making breakfast and dinner. We subscribe to Time, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker (as well as to Christianity Today, Books and Culture, and Critique). I scroll through The New York Times’ headlines and most-emailed ...

Deep Calls Out to Deep, but I Long to Stay ShallowWhat spring break taught me about God.
Deep Calls Out to Deep, but I Long to Stay Shallow
Image: Pandu Adnyana

In March, we went on vacation as a family. It was a beautiful trip—clear skies, blue water, white sandy beaches. The resort where we stayed offered a “kids club” in the morning, so I had time for walks by myself and with Peter, for naps in the shade of a palm tree, for times of ...

The Need for Spiritual End-of-Life CarePrayer and a ministry of presence can make an eternal difference.
The Need for Spiritual End-of-Life Care
Image: Vinoth Chandar/flickr

My grandmother died ten days ago. She was 88 years old. By all accounts she had lived a colorful life, with three husbands, three children, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She routinely stated her intention to live another decade. Even though her body was failing her through arthritis ...

The Celebrity Writer who Changed the WorldAn interview with Karen Swallow Prior about Hannah More's legacy as a writer, activist, and educator
The Celebrity Writer who Changed the World
Image:

Professor and writer Karen Swallow Prior’s biography of Hannah More—abolitionist, poet, and reformer—came out last fall. March is Women’s History Month, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to ask Karen to reflect upon More’s life and legacy:

Although I hadn't learned ...

The Problem with Quiet TimesAs a mother of three small children, when I stopped having disciplined set apart time with God, my faith grew.
The Problem with Quiet Times
Image: Cindee Snider Re/flickr

When I was in high school, I learned about this practice of many evangelical Christians called quiet times. Quiet times didn’t only involve an absence of distracting noise, but also a Bible and a journal and maybe a book about something spiritual. I read through the New Testament during my ...

Winter Makes Neighbors out of PeopleA prodigal daughter of the Midwest learns to love God more through a long winter.
Winter Makes Neighbors out of People
Image: courosa/flickr

As I mentioned in last week's post with Eleven Books to Help You Embrace the Snow, I have had a hard time enjoying the reality of living in the Northeast this winter. When I saw my friend Katherine's status update on Facebook about loving this winter, I reached out. Katherine is also a pastor ...

From the Sermon to the Super BowlWhat the church has to offer goes beyond entertainment and inspiration.
From the Sermon to the Super Bowl
Image: Lee Bennett/flickr

Last night I joined at least 111 million other Americans in watching the Super Bowl. Despite years of indifference to organized sports in general and professional sports in particular, I managed to follow the game’s drama, especially in the fourth quarter. I marveled at the athleticism on display, ...

How Should Christians Measure Success?In a world of instant gratification and surface beauty, bearing fruit that will last.
How Should Christians Measure Success?
Image: Iguanasan/flickr

In the modern world, measurements matter. Newspapers and magazines offer infographics. Congress passes legislation mandating measurable results. And Christians are no strangers to the modern tendency to provide a chart or graph, a documented data set, to demonstrate effectiveness (or lack thereof) ...

Harmony on EarthOn MLK Day, Rethinking Racial Integration
Harmony on Earth
Image:

In 1970, a group of African Americans in the small US town of Mount Laurel, New Jersey petitioned township officials to build low-income housing. Led by a young woman named Ethel Lawrence, the group was otherwise forced to live in the crime-ridden metropolitan environment of nearby Camden. The township ...

Why We Need Rich ChristiansExcessive wealth isn’t good for anybody, unless it’s used for good for everybody.
Why We Need Rich Christians
Image: mSeattle/flickr

Despite some recent economic good news—the unemployment rate is dropping and the economy as a whole has been growing for a while now—plenty of people in America have reason to worry about money. Fifteen percent of the nations live below the poverty line. Nearly 48 million people receive ...

Wishing You Neither a 'Traditional' nor 'Contemporary' ChristmasHow hymns (and a little bit of hip hop) can aid our worship. Plus a new Christmas hymn from High Street Hymns.
Wishing You Neither a 'Traditional' nor 'Contemporary' Christmas
Image: garshna/flickr

A few years ago, I sat in a church service in Richmond, Virginia, and I listened to a rendition of "There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy," a hymn I had never heard before. The rich theology within the words, and the beauty and simplicity of the music that accompanied them, lingered ...

Grace Amid an Ordinary ChristmasCan grace show up in the midst of sickness, snow days, Monopoly, and a manger?
Grace Amid an Ordinary Christmas
Image: Kurt Edblom/flickr

I’m probably not alone in entering the Christmas season with some combination of eager anticipation and dread. I won’t go on and on about the shopping and the baking and the parties, but I will note that this celebration also falls at the beginning of the sick-and-snow season. We had ...

The Great Congruence of Science and FaithAn interview with Rob Moll about kids and spirituality, neuroscience, and the practice of prayer
The Great Congruence of Science and Faith
Image: William Creswell/flickr

I read Rob Moll’s newest book, What Your Body Knows About God with interest and wonder. It’s filled with fascinating tidbits of information about our bodies and spirituality, and Rob writes in a way that easily connects data points to stories. The book as a whole stands as an encouraging ...

Limping through ScriptureAn interview with Jennifer Grant and Cathleen Falsani about Disquiet Time
Limping through Scripture
Image: Patrick Feller/flickr

Released in late October, Disquiet Time: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a Few Scoundrels is the brainchild of Jennifer Grant (a fellow contributor to her.meneutics) and Cathleen Falsani (an award-winning religion writer and journalist) who co-edited the book. ...

Surprised by Religion at the National Book Awards Why literary culture in America should cause hope and concern
Surprised by Religion at the National Book Awards
Image: Florin Gorgan/flickr

It felt kind of like the Oscars, well, like the Oscars for book nerds. An evening with awards in different categories, a host who made witty remarks, and palpable excitement in the air. Two nights ago, I sat in an auditorium at the New School in Manhattan, for the privilege of listening as the twenty ...

Follow Christianity Today
Free Newsletters