This Online Articles area (formerly our Library) gathers reflections, op-eds, and essays that engage the pressing questions of faith, justice, and public life. Here, you’ll find hundreds of thoughtful and engaging pieces from scholars, practitioners, and everyday Christians — leaders and writers who bring fresh insight and faithful imagination. These articles are meant to spark deeper discipleship, fuel courageous action, and equip the church to embody the gospel in a complex world. We invite you to explore, learn, and join the ongoing conversation toward a fuller expression of Christian faithfulness and a more just society.
Subscribe to the CSA Newsletter
CSA’s free weekly publication, a carefully curated collection of original articles at the intersection of spiritual formation and social action.
By Laurie Nichols
Each year, I circle back to the same question, one that never feels finished: Where are we now in the long, unfinished struggle for justice? It isn’t the kind of question you can tick off with easy answers.
By Christine Sine
You can listen to an audio version of this piece here.
I love gardening and one of the things I love about living in the northern hemisphere is that Easter coincides with the spring blossoming and planting seasons.
By Cyndi Parker
Originally published Mar 7, 2022
I did not grow up observing Lent. I knew “those other Christians” gave up their favorite things during Lent, which made me feel sad for them.
By Jacqueline Bussie
What if the most astonishing greatness about Flannery O’Connor is not some moral life she lived but the grace her own writing brought into her own airless, privileged box of whiteness? The way grace liberated much of her writing from her own bias, prejudice, and racism?
By David de Leon
You can listen to an audio version of this piece here.
I did not grow up in a church that observed Lent, but I did grow up around altar calls.
By Rev. Letiah Fraser
A Public Confession: You were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil.
-Genesis 3:19b (CEB)
The Lenten season is a good time for confession.
By Kaitlin Curtice
The word story is defined as “an account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something.” I think about this a lot when I travel and speak: How does our story evolve, change, and become?
By B. Julie Johnson
Originally published Jul 7, 2021
Prostitution. Few social practices have generated more controversy, confusion, scorn, pity, fascination, intrigue, myths, and theories — and for thousands of years. At the same time, it’s difficult to think of any other social behavior, except genocide, that has silenced so many throughout the ages.
By Christine Sine
A couple of weeks ago, I read a fascinating article that talked about how chemical sprays—both pesticides and fertilizers—negatively impact beneficial insects by altering the electrical field around flowers, making bumblebees less likely to land on them for pollination.
By Elrena Evans
Originally posted April 21, 2022
We spoke with Elrena Evans about her new book, Special Grace: Prayers and Reflections for Families with Special Needs from InterVarsity Press. Below you’ll find our conversation, as well as an excerpt from Evans’ beautiful book.
By Melanie Springer Mock
I’ve been thinking a lot about the spate of book bans occurring across the country recently, school boards and state legislatures and governors deciding that some books are too dangerous for young people, because they narrate stories about queer protagonists, because they center the lives of Black people, because they aren’t solely populated with white evangelical ideals.
By Nikki Toyama-Szeto
You can listen to an audio version of this piece here.
Walking the pathway, I wanted to look up at the stony landscape. But the path was so pebbly that I had to keep my eyes on the ground to keep from stumbling.
By Jemar Tisby
Even though author Tom Skinner is most famous for the message he delivered at Urbana in 1970, the deeper story of that night is about the group of Black college students who literally sat front and center while he delivered his oration.
By Kristyn Komarnicki
You can listen to an audio version of this piece here.
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:16
I am a failure when it comes to spiritual disciplines.
By Tamice Spencer-Helms
It had been three years since Trayvon Martin was killed. I was living in Atlanta, Georgia, working full-time for a mostly white college ministry. And I was dying inside.
I spent the three years after Trayvon died in perpetual despair.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
Editor’s note: Originally published March 3, 2022, we believe Liz’s suggestions below, after completing a month-long celebration of Black authors, can be a meaningful way to both kick off Lent and to continue to honor and learn from our Black brothers and sisters.
By David Clough
What emotions do you bring to worship this evening? Delight at glimpses of beauty and of love? Sadness at tragic loss? Anger at injustice? Resentment and bitterness about our lot?