Director Roger Nygard, besides working on television comedies like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” has also given us “Trekkies” (about the extreme fans of the “Star Trek” series) and “Six Days In Roswell” (about UFO enthusiasts). So Mr. Nygard appears to have an affinity for showing us people’s heartfelt passions about the invisible, looked upon with an ironic air of comic absurdity.
Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) is the kind of guy who looks like the world is his oyster: he’s handsome, charming, outgoing, and, in a coastal Massachusetts harbor town, a great sailor. He wins so many local races that he’s actually offered a sailing scholarship (do they even have such things?).
I came a day late to the Assembly. My nephew, raised a Presbyterian, was being married in the Catholic Church. “We are..
HARARE (ENI) — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has lashed out at churches that allow same-sex marriages, and said gay rights would not be included in a new constitution being written for the southern African country.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — There are two kinds of people in the world: those who play it safe and those who take risks, the Rev. Graham Baird told those attending a service July 23 at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium.
I don't remember when I developed a passion and fascination for the mysteries that lie inside the hearts of people who were born in different landscapes than my own. I think this love for cultures developed somewhere between 49th street and 8th Avenue in New York City.
LOUISVILLE — A Senate vote July 15 gave final approval to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act with a landmark provision requiring energy and mining companies registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose how much they pay to foreign countries and the U.S. government for oil, gas, and minerals. President Barack Obama later signed the bill into law.
Jim Tebbe, vice-president of missions for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has been named president of Friends of Forman Christian College (FCC) in Lahore, Pakistan, and president-designate of the college.
But, would I want to live there? Thousands of Jewish settlers from the United States and Europe do. So do the Palestinians who have been there for four millennia or more.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ENI)
David Beckmann and Jo Luck were named co-winners of the 2010 World Food Prize at a June 16 ceremony at the U.S. State Department. The award is often seen as the Nobel Prize on issues related to food security, hunger and farming.
(RNS) The Reformed Church in America’s general synod president wants the church to be a bigger advocate of social justice.
WASHINGTON, D. C. (RNS) President Obama has named Suzan Johnson Cook, a pastor from New York, as his nominee to be ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary’s Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology and a scholar on the work of Karl Barth, has been chosen as the recipient of the 2010 Karl Barth Award by the jury of the Union of Evangelical Churches in the Evangelical Church in Germany.
Washington D.C. (RNS) Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt has urged members of the largest Protestant denomination in the United States to seek new ways to evangelize and combat declining baptism rates.
Washington D.C. (RNS) Religious organizations reported a 0.7 percent decrease in donations last year, according to a study by Giving USA Foundation, a marked contrast from the 5.5 percent increase in giving reported in 2008. Total donations for all charitable groups in 2009 were down by 3.6 percent.
Warsaw (ENI) Poland’s bishops have warned Roman Catholic Church members that they cannot receive Holy Communion if they support in vitro fertilization, because it is a violation of church law comparable to abortion.
As this magazine goes to print, thousands of Presbyterians are gathering in Minneapolis, Minn., for the meetings of the 219th General Assembly. By the time this edition arrives in your home or study, the actions of the GA will have concluded, as reported in detail on our Web site (www.pres-outlook.org) and summarized in brief in our Post-GA Bulletin Insert (can be purchased at the Website).
GRAND RAPIDS
With calls for reconciliation, the healing of old wounds, and the courage to act for peace and justice in the world, the two major networks of Reformed Christians around the globe have combined to form a new body, the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Complied from reports by ENI and Religion News Service
“Good evangelism” and “bad evangelism” came under discussion when a diverse group of Christians gathered to discuss the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference 100 years later in the capital of Scotland.
Kristen Riegel, from Batavia, N.Y., is the 2010 recipient of The Presbyterian Outlook Church-College Partnership Award. Judges selected her essay on the assigned topic, “How my education at a PC(USA)-related college has shaped my faith and prepared me for significant service and leadership” as this year’s best entry.
When Tom Hay went to Scotland in May as a representative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) attending the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, he kept his eyes open for good ideas.
I had a conversation the other day with a good friend. He and I usually disagree on most things. Our argument began with the old question, “What would you do if you were driving through a one stoplight town in the middle of the night and the light was red?” He contended that the “rules are the rules,” while I argued that I would stop and look both ways and go on.
If congregations want to turn around public skepticism, mission work ought to be their first priority.
Sometimes when I feel down about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) , I wonder who the last Presbyterian will be.
Editor’s Note: This essay is one in a series probing challenges to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its Reformed heritage to find fresh theological language in a time of great ferment and polarization. “With battle lines drawn, cracks showing, and widespread distrust, this question hits Presbyterians especially hard,” says the author.
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