Blitzer, Vitsmun, and Authentic Interfaith Dialogue
Wolf Blitzer – prized journalist for CNN – made what some are affectionately referring to as a ‘teachable moment’ when he asked an atheist survivor (Rebecca Vitsmun) of the Moore, OK tornado: ‘You’ve gotta thank the Lord, right? Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?’ ‘I – I’m actually an atheist,’ Vitsmun replies. Noticeably tripped-up, Blitzer [...]
Home
Home is a concept that has little to do with a physical building, but everything to do with the emotional, psychological and spiritual space that we each occupy. We live in this space no matter where we are geographically, and no matter what dwelling we inhabit. Still, there is something to be said about the physical structure [...]
Wandering Through the Desert: Sifting Through Our Past on our Way to Revelation
During Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we cast our sins in to the desert, freeing ourselves from their oppressive burden, unshackling our hearts and minds so that we can begin the year anew. Six months later another new year arrives (Exodus 12:12). After a period of enslavement we find ourselves once again loosening our chains and opening our souls, ready to reencounter that which we cast away.
A Spring Reflection on Potential, Expectations, and Possibly Oppressive Lifestyles
Our current topic is spring as rebirth and, being an earth spiritualist, I wasn’t quite sure what to say first. Around this time of year, I reflect on the holidays as a growth of personal initiative and potential, the symbolic quickening of sprouting seeds, the re-awakened earth that can be felt, smelled, tasted, breathed. This [...]
Boston Blooms
One week removed from the lockdown of my city, spring is reclaiming our streets. In the moments and days following the Boston Marathon bombings, I watched my hometown transform into a combination of tragedy and heroism. In the week since, I have seen us move forward stronger and prouder, ever more dedicated to the causes [...]
Boston: Meeting Hatred With Love
It strikes me as something of a cliché to start a blog with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. but nonetheless, here I go. I was reading a book on Sunday evening which cites King as imploring, “We must meet hate with love.” This was King’s astonishing, compassionate response to the bombing of his [...]
Living In and Through Tragedy
It has been a tough week to be in Boston. It is almost as hard to add anything to all that has been written about the tragedy, confusion, and sadness that the week brought to Boston and to the world as it looked on. Two seemingly contradictory themes stood out for me, first in my [...]
Happy Birthday, Stella: When Children Die
April 18th, 2013 Today marks Stella Joy Bruner-Methven’s fourth birthday. She died last year, on October 22nd, just days after she turned 3 1/2. Although today is Stella’s birthday, she does not turn four. An egregious tumor, incurable and virtually untreatable, took this birthday from her. And before it did that, it took away almost [...]
Responding to Tragedy: Insights from Lutheran History
Lutherans have the unique distinction of being the only mainline Protestant denomination named after its founder. While other denominations take their name from their church structure (Presbyterians, Congregationalists), geography (Moravians), or reappropriated pejorative terms (Methodists), Lutherans take their name from a single theologian. This was not by Luther’s design, either. During his life, Luther vehemently [...]
Engaging Compassion: Boston and the interrelatedness of our own actions.
Boston. Baghdad. New York. Kabul. Tel Aviv. Gaza… Syria… Burma… Rwanda… Tibet… the sorrow of violent tragedies that I have learned in my generation seems to have crossed all the borders. The reality is that there are no borders, even if we try to build the walls and fences that separate us. Hurt, like love, [...]
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.
Susan HarrisonI am a PhD candidate at the Toronto School of Theology - Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto. In addition to my current research in Christian Peace Theology and the Theology of Religions I teach, participate in and organize Interfaith dialogue events. I have an MDiv and a ThM in New Testament and have found leading Scriptural Reasoning groups a meaningful way of connecting with people, building community, and learning about how scripture shapes lives and gives meaning to people. I have served in different capacities as a pastor, chaplain and a cultural exchange program coordinator. Some of my writing includes "Interfaith friendship as a Bridge to Peace" in *Windows to World's Religions* (ed. Arvind Sharma), articles for the *Common Ground News* and I am one of the editor's and contributor's to the book *On Spirituality: Essays from the Third Shii Muslim Mennonite Christian Dialogue*.
Prashant ParikhAn Industrial Engineering Graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, now working as a Systems Analyst, Prashant considers himself first and foremost a student of traditional Advaita Vedānta, from the Ārsha Vidyā Gurukulam. Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, he has been living in USA since 2005, thereafter gaining a subtle appreciation for the Vedic scriptures and Indian/Hindu culture.
In the face of myriad faulty interpretations of the Vedic scriptures, Prashant recognizes the imminent need of not only promoting, but also preserving these teachings. This, he believes, can be achieved by unfolding them in a traditional manner, as this kind of nuanced treatment alone can ensure posterity.
Additionally, he is involved in writing articles, facilitating study groups- online or otherwise- and always looking for new opportunities to share his enthusiasm for the subject.