New Beginnings: Fear and Hope
This post (the first of two) reflects on the fears and hopes that mark new beginnings. What is there to fear for a Christian on Easter morning? What is there to fear for a parent of a newborn child? What is there to fear for a student beginning a dissertation? What is the relationship – or the difference – between fear and hope?
Rev. Peter Gomes, R.I.P.
Harvard Chaplain, Rev. Peter Gomes, died Monday (Feb 28, 2011). This post reflects on the profound role this man’s work had on my own life and understanding of the Bible.
Political Debate and Caricature
This post argues that when we reduce the religious/philosophical/theological/political/etc. views of others to caricature, we not only harm them, but we also harm ourselves and undermine our own positions
Erotic Love and the Imago Dei
I am part of a community of students in theology (http://www.theologysalon.org) exploring the question: Why theology? No doubt, we all have different answers to this question. I, myself, have more than one answer. The largest and simplest answer (for me) is: Because I want to make the world a better place. It is not always [...]
Scalars, Vectors, and Hypotheses beyond Atheism
This post recommends and responds to a recent essay by Paul Wallace who argues that “Most atheists reject far too little.”
The burning oíkos
In a world filled with violence, injustice, and hunger, what is at stake in the work of interreligious study and dialogue? This post explores this question through an allegory by Raimon Panikkar.
Does Stephen Prothero read SoF?
This post recommends and responds to a recent blog post by Stephen Prothero on CNN’s Belief Blog.
Best laid plans of mice and men
This mouse-and-man story is a chapter in my state of formation – well intentioned and increasingly in the gray.
Proceeding along the aporetic path
This post is inspired by / in response to a recent post by Honna Eichler. It explores questions of community and responsibility and the difficulty of discerning one’s call.
Who ‘owns’ religious practice?
Is it appropriate to “borrow” religious practices from religious traditions other than our own? If so, what are the limits to such practices and how should this be done? If not, then why not?
Brad Bannon
Brad 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.”
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Contributing Scholars
Casey SigmonCasey is first year Ph.D student in Homiletics and Liturgics and fellow in The Program in Theology and Practice at Vanderbilt. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She lives in Nashville with her husband, two cats and twenty Divinity school students at the Disciples Divinity House.
Leslie HilgemanLeslie Hilgeman is a fifth-year student at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, to be ordained as a rabbi in June 2013. She also serves as student rabbi of Congregation Am Haskalah of Allentown/Bethlehem, PA. Since joining rabbinical school, her passion for inter-religious engagement has led her into inter-seminary workshops and classrooms, organizing inter-seminary student programs, internship work at the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, social-justice delegations to four countries, interfaith prayer and blessing circles, conferences and occasional blogging. Previous to her rabbinical studies, Leslie held a 15-year career as a foreign correspondent and editor, mostly covering business and technology in Latin America & the Caribbean.
