Part of our national consciousness is an embedded sense of presidential evolution that unconsciously infers that the next commander-in-chief must be more worthy, more righteous, more patriotic and more American. But the fact of the matter is that we get sons, fully incarnate with strengths and weaknesses.

Yes, we hear a lot about two Johns every time December rolls around: Strange and hairy, screaming as loud as they can that we've really messed up the world, and we all better get our act straight before it's too late.

There I was, making our end-of-year donations to charities and development organizations, when I heard the voice of John the Baptist, sardonic and insistent: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

Is it an opportunity to meet the surprising around you? Is it an opportunity to reflect on what is most needed in your heart and in the world around you? How are you going to wait for that gift?

The Christmas season is, we all know, harried. In our rush to please, our hurry to purchase, many of us will make quick decisions. Like me! Friend me! Poke me! But the Advent season is a time of waiting, expectation, hope.

John the Baptist gave meaning to the word courage in his unswerving commitment to his mission of truth and promise. Herod Antipas gave meaning to the word fear in his commitment to self-preservation.

LONDON -- It's a tantalizing find in a Biblical mystery – Oxford University researchers have concluded that a set of skeletal remains which many...

The only theology John the Baptist offered were the directives to repent and to give away our wealth, retaining only what we truly need. ... The truth about that wealth was so deep and clear in the eyes of God that it was at the heart of Christ's message.

The fear about exposure and judgment comes to white-hot focus in a remarkable biblical story, told early in the Gospel of John, about an investigative team dispatched from the capital city to interrogate an enigmatic preacher.

Jesus of Nazareth was not a Peak Performance Strategist as the prosperity preachers would have it. Nor was he an foreigner-hating patriot as the Tea Party would argue.

QASR EL-YAHUD, West Bank -- Israel opened the traditional baptism site of Jesus to daily visits Tuesday, a move that required the cooperation of Israe...

By Daniel Burke Religion News Service BALTIMORE (RNS) Martina Bagnoli admits that the exhibit she helps curate here at The Walters Art Museum may gro...

Today, January 6, Orthodox Christians celebrate another of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Christian Church -- the Theophany, or, as it is also called, the Epiphany.

Archaeologists in Bulgaria claimed to have located a sarcophagus containing the bones of John the Baptist, drawing enthusiasm from politicians but dou...