Online Articles

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.

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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.

Becoming Reparative Communities

By Terence Lester, PhD

(Editor’s note: This is the final piece of our 4-part series on economic injustice. You can find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. In this final piece, Dr.

The Benefits of Self-Denial

By Chad Allen
A little while back, I took a closer look than I had before at some introductory pages in The Book of Common Prayer (I’m Episcopalian) and found these almost universally ignored instructions under the heading “Days of Special Devotion”:

Reading the Bible with a Muslim Friend

By Doug Baker

In evangelical culture, we sometimes learn to treat doubt and faith as opposites. We tell stories of how we used to doubt, but God rescued us and brought us to faith. Often, we think it is best to flee situations that challenge our faith and lead us into doubt.

What Will Make My Neighbors Healthy?

By Veronica Squires and Breanna Lathrop

Poverty is a strong predictor of mortality and a critical social determinant of health. The Department of Health and Human Services lists poverty as a key component of economic stability.

CreatureKind: Reflections From the Road

By Sarah Withrow King

CreatureKind spent the latter part of December and the first week of January on the road, first exhibiting and talking to attendees of InterVarsity’s Urbana Missions Conference and then the Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting (held in conjunction with the Society of Jewish Ethics and the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics).

Psalm of Praise: A Meditation

By Elrena Evans
Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power;

In Protest of the Protestant Art Ethic

By Tegan Brozyna

I was fortunate to earn my art degree at a faith-based college that was serious about both art and faith. I vividly remember my first art course in college; we were all so eager and nervous about creating and showing our work.

Poetry, Not Math: How We Read the Bible

By Morgan Guyton

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not seize it. ~ John 1:5
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.

Starting to Thaw

By Gillian Marchenko

 

I drive out to the suburbs of Chicago for the trial. They administer a quick medical exam: blood pressure, urine sample, reflexes, nose, ears, deep breaths while a cold stethoscope pressed against my chest.

The Legion of the Lonely

By Harold Dean Trulear

As a young adult Episcopalian, I was confronted by a graduate school colleague who asked me how I could stand to say the “same printed prayers every week.” After giving it some thought, I responded to my friend, “Baptists say the same prayers every week, too.

2019: Building Your Wisdom Pyramid

By Aimee Fritz
Author Brett McCracken posed a question on his blog, asking his readers “to think about what sorts of ‘knowledge groups,’ and in what proportion, feed a healthy life of true wisdom and true joy.” Brett summarized it like this:

Thoughts to Carry Into the New Year

Complied by CSA
“What would it mean if, instead of trying to explain the gospel in terms of our modern scientific culture, we tried to explain our culture in terms of the gospel?”
– Lesslie Newbigin

New Year’s Resolution: Love Your Neighbor

By Bret Kincaid

As you’re writing out your New Year’s resolutions, how about this one? Love your neighbor.

Perhaps you’ve already committed yourself to engage in public service this year.  Still, I offer the following 10 suggestions to help us all live into the second greatest commandment—love your neighbor as yourself—in a year that will surely be full of political, economic, and other challenges. 

A Poem to Pray in the New Year

By Jennifer Carpenter

Whether you gathered around to watch the “ball drop” or slept through the festivities, we have entered a new year with new challenges and new possibilities. Along with your list of resolutions of things to be or do in 2019, perhaps we can join together in praying this poem throughout the year.