This Month's Cover
Magazine

Sojourners Magazine: July 2009

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A magazine redesign is a chance for a new beginning. Magazines don’t do this kind of overhaul every four years, but such transitions do offer the opportunity not only to present a fresh look but to revisit first principles as well.

Read more from the interview with Jim Wallis and Jon Stewart.

Watch a lesson on contemplative prayer taught by Rose Marie Berger.

New Sojourners columnist Bill McKibben on how to save our economy in this video interview.

Ed Spivey Jr.'s H'rumphs video. This month he takes on swine flu.

Cover Story

Jon Stewart says he's not a prophet. But he plays one on TV.
Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, speaks truth to power with silliness, outrage, and a whole lotta laughs. But is he a prophet?

Feature

How I learned the real meaning of strength -- from the unlikeliest of people.
Ancient Christian practices are finding a home in post-modern Christianity.
Seventeen activists and church leaders talk about the disciplines that keep them girded for the struggle.

Commentary

A conservative argues for abolishing the death penalty.
Going beyond the blind spots.
Torture leaves wounds that are slow to heal.

Columns

Our Mobilization to End Poverty this spring brought together nearly 1,200 Christian leaders and grassroots activists from around the country committed to overcoming poverty.
This is my first column in our bold new magazine design, which was created to bring state-of-the-art publishing innovations to our readers. Also, we were bored with the old design.
I loved that movie with Mandy Moore about a terminally ill preacher’s daughter who tutored a rebellious peer.
I dreamt last night I was being deployed to Iraq.
Winning can be nearly as hard as losing. Everything changed for the American environmental movement with Barack Obama’s victory.
Patience may be a virtue, but it’s definitely not my strong suit. I hate to wait. H-A-T-E it.

Culture Watch

A journalist explores the science of spirituality.
Now that most filmed records of human life are made by amateurs—the growth of YouTube and other forms of uploading moving images is the most influential recent development in cinema—we
American Violet, directed by Tim Disney. Uncommon Productions.
Dom Helder Camara: Essential Writings, by Francis McDonagh; Where Mercy Fails: Darfur's Struggle to Survive, by Chris Herlinger; The Economics of Honor, by Roelf Hann; and Albert Schweitzer: Call to Africa, by Martin Doblmeier.
Contesting Patriotism: Culture, Power, and Strategy in the Peace Movement, by Lynne M. Woehrle, Patrick G. Coy, and Gregory M. Maney. Rowman & Littlefield.
When I began writing this column back in 1985, my page could hold up to 1,000 words. Over the years that number has shrunk, first to 800, then 700.
Christian radio finds a new audience -- outside the church.

Departments

Reflections on the Revised Common Lectionary for July.
The Teresian Carmelites of Millbury, Massachusetts, soon hope to add a wind farm to their life of prayer and service.
The letter “Women and Islam” (Letters, April 2009) points out that Islamic law often forces women into subservient social and religious roles.
I appreciate Derek Webb’s zeal for doing what’s right, but I wonder just how many latrines and wells Webb has gotten his hands dirty digging (“Nashville’s New Groove,”
I appreciated the article on eating disorders and wholeheartedly agree that the church needs to speak about it more (“Body Language,” by Elizabeth Palmberg, April 2009).
“Food deserts,” neighborhoods where people must walk at least a mile or drive 30 miles to access a grocery store, are rife in both urban and rural areas throughout the U.S.
The recently launched Two Futures Project is twittering us into a non-nuclear future.
To you who are lost today like a needle in a haystack, reading this poem alone. Alone, brother island, sister moon. The ocean is big,
As a bibliophile who loves the act of reading but also the sensory experience of a book’s look, feel, and smell, I thought, “Why would anyone want to read a book on a screen?” Fif
On the final working day of the Bush administration, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice designated eight countries as egregious violators of religious freedom, but waived the possibility of sancti

Web Extra

This is my first column in our bold new magazine design, which was created to bring state-of-the-art publishing innovations to our readers. Also, we were bored with the old design.
This month's poet, Richard Schiffman, reads his poem, "Alone." Richard Schiffman is a poet and writer who splits his time between New York City and New Mexico.
Alexie Torres-Fleming is executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (ympj.org) in the South Bronx where she was born and raised.