Christianity

From the very beginning, Christianity has had a complicated relationship with slavery. Many of the early Christians in the first centuries of the Church were slaves, including bishops, martyrs, evangelists, and even popes. Celsus, a 2nd Century pagan, even ri…

Pride. Greed. Gluttony. Lust. Sloth. Envy And, of course...the Wrath of Khan. These are the Seven Deadly Sins, a list of seven forbidden acts from Christianity that, if committed, equal a one-way ticket to the Bad Place. But theyre also a widely used trope in…

Rag Time is a bi-weekly media investigation of a single celebrity story that's vastly more in-depth than you ever thought you needed. This week: Justin Bieber's forthcoming second wedding to Hailey Bieber. Just about this time last year, Justin Bieber and hi…

When e-readers first appeared, the end of traditional books was widely prophesied. Parallels were drawn with the invention of printing, which rapidly made handwritten manuscripts obsolete. But now, with paper book sales rebounding, it looks as though we have …

The University of North Carolina is disputing the Trump administration's accusations of bias in a Middle East studies program that the school operates with Duke University. In a letter sent to the department Friday and obtained by The Associated Press throug…

According to the fairytale, in 1284, the German town of Hamelin was experiencing a rat infestation, and thus hired a man to take care of it, the Pied Piper. However, the town double-crossed him and refused to pay him, so in retaliation he played his pipe and …

The U.N. Secretary-General is calling on all leaders to come with realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020. USA TODAY WASHINGTON Theres a big exception to President Donald Trumps tendency towards a go-it-alone strategy o…

In every era and cultural context, Christians have wrestled with how best to represent Christ in the realm of politics and public life. Our own 21st-century American moment is no exception. As the social and cultural ground has shifted beneath us, our interfa…

Once or month or so Tommy Kidd and I get together for lunch at our favorite taco joint. Over the carnitas and barbacoa and guacamole we catch up on how our writing projects are going, and perhaps gossip a bit about what’s happening at Baylor University, where…

(Informed Comment) – In 1948 rumors spread that jazz trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie was considering converting to Islam. Gillespie told journalists that the important religious issue for him was not the success of another religion but the failure of Christiani…