The Surrender of Breda is a gigantic, life-size painting by Diego Velasquez (1599-1660). Mentioning it here on The Twelve, with its inordinate amount of

When Christians are asked to evaluate the ethics of war, “just war theory”—that a war is justified— quickly enters the conversation. Here I offer some

 At the 2009 Washington Correspondents’ Dinner, comedienne Wanda Sykes joked with President Obama, “They even gave you grief about your dog, about Bo. ‘Why didn’t

My senior year of college, in a capstone sort of course, I read John Howard Yoder’s The Politics of Jesus and Richard Mouw’s Politics and

Today, we welcome guest blogger, Phyllis Palsma, a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Reformed Church in America.  She currently serves as contract minister

Summer driving season affords an opportunity to listen to music over and over. Knowing how many times I’ve listened to Bob Dylan’s Tempest (2012) as

Soon after the 2012 election a Perspectives editor asked me to write about the diminished role overt faith had in presidential campaign discourse. He thought

The question—can churches split?—reminds me of the bromide attributed to Samuel Clemens.            Do you believe in infant baptism?           Believe in it?  Hell, I’ve seen

in one year. We all are familiar with those programs that provide a schedule to read the entire Bible in a single year. Often they