The Israeli Chroniclers and the Am Ha’Aretz of Palestine
He only says, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’. Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: ’Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I [...]
Liberal Guilt and the Limits of Quotidian Ethics
While waiting for my course on Christianity and Social Power to begin, I observed the students sitting at the large ring of tables around the room. Though technically classified as a seminar, the course is taught by the illustrious Kathryn Tanner and is consequently filled with approximately 40 eager pupils. The first thing I noticed: [...]
Celebrated Ignorance, or When Will the Polemics Stop?
The LRA are Christians. Or so said Rush Limbaugh on his October 14th show: “Now, up until today, most Americans have never heard of the combat Lord’s Resistance Army. And here we are at war with them. Have you ever heard of Lord’s Resistance Army, Dawn? How about you, Brian? […] You never heard of Lord’s [...]
Dangerous Narratives: Lessons from the German Christian Movement for the American Church
It was a damp, rainy day when I witnessed the black iron gate that looms ominously over Auschwitz I. ‘Arbeit macht frei’, it pronounces: “Work will set you free.” I could not help but notice the similarity to the words attributed to Jesus in John’s Gospel – “Then you will know the truth, and the truth [...]
An Upset in Piperville: An Object Lesson in Loving the Theologically Ridiculous
Over the past few days, one three-word tweet has put the evangelical world into a tizzy: Farewell Rob Bell. The tweet came from John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN and the veritable Godfather of the neo-reformed evangelical establishment (for more on Piper’s influence, see my previous post on evangelicals and interreligious [...]
In Memory of David Kato: An Evangelical Response to Anti-Homosexuality in Uganda
Four days ago, David Kato was brutally murdered in Mukono, a town about 13 miles east of Uganda’s capital city of Kampala. He was one of Uganda’s leading gay rights activists. Inspired by the time he spent in South Africa during its transition from apartheid, Kato courageously helped found and served as an officer for [...]
When Trickle Down Doesn’t Work: Evangelicals and Interfaith Dialogue
It was an unassuming debate, the kind that takes place before everyone has arrived and you are still mixing sugar and cream into your coffee. A tantalizing mix of progressive social justice types and conservative evangelicals, this particular Bible study group lent itself to provocative conversation. The topic of contention: whether evangelical Christians can, in [...]
Sara Williams Staley
Sara is a student at Yale Divinity School, where she is working toward a Master of Religious Studies with a concentration in ethics. Her research interest lies broadly in the role of faith communities in religiously charged conflicts and more particularly in the conversation between American evangelical and postliberal theologies as it relates to the construction of an evangelical ethic for interreligious engagement.
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Contributing Scholars
EnverEnver Rahmanov was born in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan and studied in Kiev, Ukraine before moving to the United States to work at the United Nations in New York. Currently, he is a student in Interreligious Studies at the Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley, California) and the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and a graduate assistant at the Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages. Enver believes that the wisdom of peace, compassion and right actions is truly universal and has no borders but only different languages and interpretations. He is inspired by the Dalai Lama’s ethics beyond religion and his call for education of the heart by bringing the indispensability of inner values of love, compassion, justice, and forgiveness into education. Enver promotes interfaith dialogue by building personal heart to heart connections across religious borders and through his facilitation of Beyond Words: An Interfaith Ritual for Peace.
Sarah BassinHaving been ordained as a rabbi from Hebrew Union College in 2011, Sarah Bassin now serves as the executive director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change based out of Los Angeles.
Tiffany PuettTiffany Puett is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on religious diversity and multiculturalism in North America, the ongoing construction of ‘religion’ in a liberal democratic society and the politics embedded in these processes. She’s especially interested in the intersections of religion with education, citizenship, and religious freedom.