Live in the Moment, Forget Fundamentalist Certainty
“Live in the moment.” Seems simple, doesn’t it? Yet sometimes living in the moment feels as challenging as riding a wild stallion. We try and try, but it just keeps bucking us off and getting away. As human beings, we are gifted with the ability to recall our past and anticipate our future. We can [...]
How do you see the world? Black, White, or Beautiful?
The modern world is complex, challenging, and at times, a seemingly downright cold place. It is as if we are just a single droplet amongst a torrential downpour, unsure of where we’ll land or if our impact will be noticed. And as human beings, we are constantly seeking meaning, answers and a way to define [...]
Religion, Reality, and Responsibility
Candles glimmer on the table and challah passes from hand to hand, the loaf dwindles and smiles grow, as the year of 5771 fades away and the new year brightens in our midst. I look back on a year that was truly sweet and full of blessing. In a time when so many face uncertainty [...]
Andy Cook
Andy Cook, 24, has a longstanding interest in religion, spirituality, and civic engagement. Growing up in the Conservative Jewish tradition, Andy learned from an early age the importance of asking questions, knowing why one believes what they do, and placing importance on the work of improving our world.
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Contributing Scholars
Bilal HassamBilal Hassam is a trainee Doctor at the University of Nottingham concurrently studying a Masters in Inter-Religious Relations at De Montfort University, Leicester. He spent a year as a Faiths Act Fellow for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and the Interfaith Youth Core (Chicago) serving as an Inter-Religious Ambassador for the UN Millennium Development Goals; mobilising faith communities to work together in the fight against global poverty. He continues to be involved in a plethora of charitable and community organisations and initiatives across the UK and Europe and can be followed at twitter.com/bilalhassam
DivInnovationsThe DivInnovations series represents an exciting new collaboration that State of Formation and the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue are embarking upon in an effort to capture dynamic research, initiatives, partnerships, and projects (particularly interfaith in nature) at seminaries, divinity schools, and graduate theological settings in general across the nation. We will be posting profiles of institutions both on the State of Formation blog through this account and in each issue of the Journal. We invite you to be in touch about nominating your institution for a profile by emailing our JIRD liaison and profile developer, Sophia Khan.
Brad BannonBrad Bannon holds degrees in Music (BA’97), Finance (BA’97), Divinity (MDiv’06), and Philosophy (LPh’08) from Furman University, Drew Theological, and Dharmaram Vidya Ksetram (Bangalore). He is currently in his third year at Harvard Divinity School pursuing a doctorate in Comparative Theology under the direction of Frank Clooney. His research involves Sankara and Nicholas of Cusa and examines apophatic theology from the perspective of fundamental epistemology. He, his wife, Elizabeth, and their daughter, Leela, anxiously await the newest addition to their family, due in March, currently known as “Cashew.”