The Common Good

Table of Contents

Cover Story



A Bible study on water, God, and redemption.


The U.S. government continues to claim the authority to detain and kill without trial.






What does God's "settlement" look like?

In fact, my knowledge of Brazil is limited to that tall Jesus statue overlooking a city, and the fact people can be naked on the beaches while speaking Portuguese.

Culture Watch

What The Hunger Games and the gospels have in common.
Along with the silent film The Artist, Haywire, and War Horse, the smartest wide-release recent movie is Chronicle, a kinetic fusion of Breakfast Club-style teenage angst with post-9/11 violence-as-a-way-of-life (or at least way-to-be-noticed).
The painter Makoto Fujimura imagines what God might say to the church about its frequent rejection of the artists.
Pariah, written and directed by Dee Rees. Focus Features.


Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.                                                                 —Wordsworth         
Reflections on the Common Lectionary, Cycle B