Sojourners Magazine back issues from March 2008:
Inside story.(Editorial)
Mar 01, 2008 ... While the ongoing U.S. political campaigns bring some attention to pressing social problems, many of the toughest global challenges remain mired in gridlock, ignorance, or just plain hopelessness. The eight U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are one attempt to name some of those ...
Primordial holiness.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 01, 2008; ... I greatly appreciated the interview Michelle Garcia conducted with Jon Sobrino ("Goodness Revealed," January 2008). He is an exceptional servant of the Lord who has dedicated his life to the service of the poor in El Salvador for the past 34 years. He has done this in spite of criticism ...
Speaking truth to power.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 01, 2008; ... In Jim Wallis' article, "A Call to Repentance" (January 2008), he indicts all American churches as having lost their Christian consciences in regard to the U.S. war against Iraq, the threat of war with Iran, and U.S. policy in general. He leaves the impression that all American churches ...
Engaging hearts and minds.(Letter to the editor)
Mar 01, 2008; ... I just finished Jim Wallis' thought-provoking editorial "A Real 'Values' Agenda" (January 2008). This has been my heart and mind for many years, but finding others of like mind in my community, Christian and otherwise, has been very difficult. I've too often bitten my tongue for fear of ...
The politics of change.(HEARTS & MINDS)(Essay)
Mar 01, 2008; ... At the time of this writing, the primary elections are still in full swing. But already the early primary season has demonstrated clearly the limits of the pollsters' predictions, the pundits' prognostications, and the ability of politics to address our deepest problems. The ...
'The peace that God gives': is there reason for hope in the Annapolis process?(MIDDLE EAST)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Do you know the definition of a pessimist?'" asks Afif Safieh, head of the PLO delegation to the U.S. He answers with a bitter smile, "An optimist with information." There are grounds for both optimism and pessimism arising from the peace talks restarted at last November's Middle East ...
Overheard.(COMMENTARY)(Quotation)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... "When we are really honest with ourselves we must admit that our lives are ...
Wounds of war: loving our neighbors coming home from war.(VETERANS)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Leading an Army infantry platoon in Baghdad for a year, I was awed by the young men and women serving there. Their dedication to one another, and to their ideals of service, was extraordinary. But when I came home, I was struck by how disconnected many Americans seemed from what troops ...
'A new Pentecost': Global Christian Forum breaks ages-old barriers.(UNITY)
Mar 01, 2008; ... When we gathered outside Nairobi last November--245 leaders of Christian denominations and organizations from 72 countries--church history was made. At the four-day Global Christian Forum meeting, all parts of the global Christian family were officially represented, including Pentecostal, ...
God and/or country.(SNAPSHOT)(Table)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... <Pre> SNAPSHOT God and/or Country Responses when U.S. residents were asked whether they fought of themselves first as Americans, or first as members of their religion. "First as "Both" "Christian" Other/ American"or ...
Missing in Iraq.(STATS)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... For Iraqis, the scramble to find family members who are detained, kidnapped, killed, or simply lost is a harsh reality of war that often doesn't make the headlines. The International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to address the situation of Iraqis who are missing. "Each ...
Peace homework.(Between the Lines)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Students from various churches and professions gather each Saturday in Bogota, Colombia, to study peace. The School for Peace, initiated by three Colombian Mennonite organizations--Mencoldes, ...
Stem cells and human dignity.(SCIENCE)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Christians opposed to research on human embryos are hoping a new technique will allow scientists to produce stem cells without destroying embryos. Researchers announced in November that they could reprogram skin cells to have the same ability as embryonic ...
Where's your cross made?(LABOR)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... "Jesus, take pity on me! I'm going to die of exhaustion," exclaimed a Chinese factory worker after a 19-hour shift, according to a recent report by the National Labor Committee. In the report titled "Today Workers Bear the Cross," U.S.-based churches and Christian retailers are accused of ...
A low-carbon diet.(ENVIRONMENT)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... This Lent, Christians are invited to "Fast from Carbon." The Regeneration Project's Interfaith Power and Light carbon fast is a reminder that although global warming threatens life everywhere, it is the poor who will suffer first--and worst--if developed nations do not take greater ...
Life acts.(NEWS BITES)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law in December a measure that abolished the death ...
Zero sum.(NEWS BITES)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... The United Nations announced that by 2008 it will reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by investing in "carbon ...
Zahn song.(NEWS BITES)(Gordon Zahn)(Obituary)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Catholic peace activist, sociologist, and conscientious objector Gordon Zahn, 84, died in December in Wisconsin. Zahn was a ...
Rosa's garden.(NEWS BITES)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... U.S. eco-flower provider, Organic Style, has partnered with Detroit's Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development to introduce the ...
Tube tracts.(NEWS BITES)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Chris Wyatt, a Dallas Theological Seminary student who helped start the first social networking Web site, has partnered with Robert Schuller's Crystal Cathedral, Jerry ...
Good mooove.(NEWS BITES)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... In December, Chipotle restaurants took another step in their "food with integrity" campaign when all locations began serving ...
A perfect game of plagues.(REAL PRODUCT)(The Source for Everything Jewish 10 Plagues bowling set)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... God brought down 10 plagues to ravage the Egyptian empire. There are 10 pins in U.S. 10-pin bowling. Mere coincidence? We think not. A Chicago-based company called The Source for Everything Jewish[R], started by Rabbi Herschel Strauss (aka "The Mail-Order Rabbi"), sells hand-painted wooden ...
Is it still a wonderful life? Building a new politics on the old values of generosity, compassion, and community.(Critical essay)(Cover story)
Mar 01, 2008; ... For a very long time, I have believed that many of the old values that a new polities would seek to advance can be found in Frank Capra's sturdy old Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life. Indeed I would make a large claim for this dear, schmaltzy movie: It tells politicians and religious ...
All's quiet on the God front.(SPIRITUALITY)(Reprint)
Mar 01, 2008; ... As a child, I was terrified of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. I dreaded those hours of "time out of time" that stretched between 3 p.m. on Friday when Jesus officially died on the cross and Jesus' resurrection, with a clap of alleluias, on Easter morning. It was in those in-between hours ...
Without a prayer: how the Democratic Party lost its faith in faith.
Mar 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN THE SUMMER OF 2004, my dad had a heart attack. My sister and I flew home to Michigan immediately, and I stayed on to help my parents adjust to their new medication-filled and cheeseburger-free existence. On Sunday morning, I drove down leafy, tree-lined ...
Sleepwalking in a nuclear minefield: the United States still worships at the altar of nuclear weapons--yet cries 'heresy' when others want to join the sect.(United States is still advocating nuclear weapon)
Mar 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AS THE 21ST CENTURY UNFOLDS, a new truth is gradually being recognized: Nuclear weapons and human security cannot co-exist. Almost two decades after the end of the Cold War, there are still 25,000 nuclear weapons in existence, about 95 percent ...
Prayer of the Iris.(POETRY)(Poem)
Mar 01, 2008; ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] <Pre> Prayer of the Iris Like the irisin the side yard,I have stopped blooming. Dig me up, O Spirit,and split me; where I have growncalloused, break me open; then drive me deeperinto ...
Being there "God's Smuggler" Brother Andrew has an odd way of breaking down barriers between Christians and Muslims. But somehow it works.
Mar 01, 2008; ... BROTHER ANDREW is anything but politically correct. The Dutch-born evangelist, in this age of carefully nuanced interfaith dialogue, unapologetically preaches the Christian gospel, especially to Muslims. And yet, despite what some might call his blunt approach--or maybe because of it--he ...
Reading the red letters.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(The Words of Jesus)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In The Words of Jesus, religion expert Phyllis Tickle compiles the sayings of Jesus into five areas: his words of public teaching, private instruction, healing, intimate conversation, and of ...
St. Dorothy Day?(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(Dorothy Day: Don't Call Me a Saint)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Based on 14 years of research, director Claudia Larson's film Dorothy Day: Don't Call Me a Saint presents the Catholic anarchist and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement through writings, interviews, and compelling images of her life and ...
Seeing is believing.(FILM)(films that inspired the goals and compelling solutions that could help make the Millennium Development Goals )(List)
Mar 01, 2008 ... No doubt some readers could, without breaking a sweat, rattle off all eight Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which were adopted by 191 countries in 2000 to reduce global poverty in half by 2015. Others may have trouble remembering them, much less understand how to help realize them ....
Visual Storytelling.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Sometimes seeing rather than hearing biblical stories makes their message more clear. That's the idea behind Modern Parables: Living in the Kingdom of God, a set of DVDs that dramatize six of Jesus' parables in film form. The parables of the sower, the Good Samaritan, ...
Rethinking Church.(NEW AND NOTEWORTHY)(The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier)(Bibliography)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008 ... Who are "emergents" and what is the "emerging church?" In The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, Tony Jones reports on the core beliefs and individual and ...
Blocking the big mouths: the media reform movement comes of age.(CULTURE)(Chronology)
Mar 01, 2008; ... On Dec. 18, 2007, the Federal Communications Commission repealed a 32-year-old ban on any single company owning print and broadcast media outlets in the same local market. The decision was consistent with more than 25 years of FCC action increasing the concentrated power of corporate ...
Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite, by D. Michael Lindsay. Oxford University Press. When I first entered politics in the late 1960s, I had never heard the term "evangelical." If I did, I certainly didn't know what it meant. Now it's a word ...
Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale, by Ion Morgan Cron. NavPress. The transition of today's churches from modernism to postmodernism dominates many discussions in Christian and secular media. While mainline denominations are experiencing dwindling memberships, evangelicals are ...
No Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy King.(Book review)
Mar 01, 2008; ... No Turning Back: My Summer with Daddy King, by Gurdon Brewster. Orbis. It is hard to remember how controversial the ministry of Martin Luther King Jr. was during his life. Gurdon Brewster, an Episcopal ordinand-in-training from Union Seminary in New York, was told that to work ...
Sea Change.(Sound recording review)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Sea Change, by Ken Medema. Briar Patch Music. Calling Ken Medema a singer-composer is like calling the Yankees a ball club. For his latest CD, Sea Change, Ken is also orchestrator, back-up vocalist (and choir), and percussionist. If they'd show him how to operate the ...
Word on the Street.(BIBLE STUDY)
Mar 01, 2008 ... This month, as we enter the high season of the church year, the common lectionary offers an overwhelming number of biblical passages for our consideration. We leave Matthew temporarily, the gospel assigned for the year, and focus on the gospel of John. Certain aspects of Johannine theology ...
Panhandling.(MARCH 2)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 "Any spare change? Can you spare any change?" When we hear the words do we look or turn away? The blind beggar is dependent on charity for economic survival; he lives in poverty. He is spoken about and not to ....
Coming Back to Life.(MARCH 9)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Ezekiel .37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45 This week's readings are about death and new life. Ezekiel describes a valley fill of bones, "very many bones" and "very dry," reanimated by the word of the prophet. In the gospel passage, Lazarus, four days dead and ...
Street theater.(MARCH 16)(processions)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Matthew 21:1-11; Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Philippians 2:5-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66 We may think that the processions of Palm Sunday recall a spontaneous affirmation of Jesus as Messiah. But a closer reading of Matthew 21 shows other dynamics. The procession is commonly referred to ...
Mary Magdalene.(MARCH 23)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18 In each of the gospels, Mary. Magdalene is one of the first witnesses to the resurrection. She is the apostle to the apostles who remained faithful to Jesus through his arrest, trial, and execution. ...
'Peace be with you'.(MARCH 30)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2008; ... Acts 2:14, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31 Whenever I can in a worship service, but especially in street churches, before we "share the peace" I say: "When Jesus appeared to his disciples, they were hiding upstairs in a locked room--the friends who knew ...
God Bless C-SPAN.(HUMOR)(Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network)(Company overview)
Mar 01, 2008; ... In this election year, it's good to acknowledge one of the most vital institutions of American political life, not counting that thing in Iowa where citizens chose the next president by means of a covered dish. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the belief that democracy ...