Christ's Hope for the Suffering

In the Koch Gallery of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts hangs Bartolome Murillo's Christ after the Flagellation, a painting that depicts two angels ...

WWJD for a Prostitute?

Author and speaker Barbara Johnson writes:

I had just finished speaking at one of the last Women of Faith (WOF) conferences in 1998, challenging the audience ...

Persevering after Loss

In his book Alive, Rick Christian recounts a low point in Thomas Carlyle's life. The noted historian had just spent two years writing a book on the ...

McCain Suffers as POW

MSNBC.com reports on John McCain’s recent return to where he was imprisoned as a POW in Vietnam:

During his captivity, McCain twice tried to hang ...

Hopeless Death of Carl Sagan

Jerry Adler writes in Newsweek:

[Carl] Sagan was fascinated by the phenomenon that educated adults, with the wonders of science manifest all around them, ...

Death Is the Only Certainty

Joseph Bayly, delightful personal friend now in heaven, was flying from Chicago to the city of Los Angeles. He engaged the woman sitting next to him in ...

Healing Requires Openness

Self-devastated people are often initially quiet; it hurts too much to air the sordid details. But healing cannot come without it.

The Despair of William Cowper

William Cowper (1731-1800)

Despite recurring mental illness, he wrote hymns on God's providence.

William Cowper's poetic achievements are remarkable ...

Eeyores in the Congregation

Many of us think fondly of that dismal, old grey donkey Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh children's books by A.A. Milne. While lovable and secretly goodhearted, ...

Pessimists and Idealists

Every age suffers its pessimists; every age needs its idealists.