The Spirituality of Learning
Christian Scientists think of angels as bright ideas. Angels are moments of clarity and expanded consciousness, moments of fresh vision and creativity, broadened perspective, and infusions of loving inspiration. Christian Scientists, who think of God as pure Mind, a divine principle of loving consciousness, see the intellect as a portal of revelation. I come from [...]
Why Monty Python Makes for Good Religion: Reflections on Religion and Film, Part 3
(This is Part 3 of a 3-part series. See Part 1 and Part 2) OFFENSE Jesus was most recently portrayed in celluloid form by a Portuguese model with great hair. I’m talking about The Bible, a miniseries broadcast on The History Channel. In it we learn that Jesus was gentle and strong; that Jews really [...]
Why Monty Python Makes for Good Religion: Reflections on Religion and Film, Part 2/3
(This is Part 2 of a 3-part series. See Part 1 here.) AUTHORITY There is another hot issue in a discussion about religion and the Bible: the question of who has authority over the telling of a narrative? How about The Bible miniseries on The History Channel? It’s a very confident little piece, isn’t [...]
Why Monty Python Makes for Good Religion: Reflections on Religion and Film, Part 1/3
Humor; humor is difficult. Religion; religion is difficult. They can both be reassuring, and discomfiting. They can affix labels, or they can liberate. They can be subversive, or they can uplift the dominant paradigm. Both can be thrilling and boring. They can be unifying, or alienating. Religion and humor both aspire to help us live [...]
Let the Millennials Speak
My eyes begin to move clock-wise around the circle, pausing briefly to engage with the words and hidden fears of the heterogeneous mixture of individuals that occupied the seats around me. The topic of discourse was two-fold: is the institution relevant and where do we go from here? Intentionally, I begin to ruminate about what [...]
Is Biblical Literacy Really the Problem?
If you’ve listened to NPR or read blogs like this one over the past six months, you’ve probably heard something about the Pew Forum’s latest study on religious practice in America. The survey confirmed statistically what has been conventional wisdom for quite a while. Mainline Protestants are losing members, more Americans are describing themselves as [...]
Christian Feminist Spirituality for Healing, Part 1
Recently, I’ve spent a lot time with Christian women striving to heal from abuse and from damaging messages they learned from their experiences of church, faith, and religion. I want to talk about the ways that seemingly harmless messages from religious leaders can contribute to the systems of gendered violence and oppression that target women, and I [...]
James Baldwin and the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church sits in the middle of downtown Birmingham, Alabama. During the heart of the Civil Rights movement, when Birmingham was known across the nation as “Bombingham,” marchers and protesters would assemble at the 16th Street Baptist Church, then walk across the street to Kelly Ingram Park, where they demonstrated against segregated [...]
What’s the Big Deal About Interfaith Marriage?
I attended the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia. I was amazed by the preponderance of sacred fashion statements (the hats!), the number of New Age practitioners from the North American West Coast, and the ubiquity of the phrase “interfaith dialogue.” As former chair of the Union Theological Seminary Interfaith Caucus, a [...]
Religion Is All About Sex?
The Freudian take on religion, that it is all about sex, or more precisely all about repressed sexual urges, is hardly new. Nevertheless, it was somewhat startling when renowned sociologist of religion Peter Berger returned to this trope last week on his The American Interest blog in an entry entitled “Religion As An Activity Engaged [...]
Contributing Scholars
Journal of Inter-Religious DialogueThe Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue™ is a forum for academic, social, and timely issues affecting religious communities around the world. It is designed to increase the quality and frequency of interchanges between religious groups and their leaders. The Journal seeks to build an inter-religious community of scholars, in which people of different traditions learn from one another and work together for the common good.
Kit EvansArgrow "Kit" Evans is a Master of Divinity graduate from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. She is a woman who is passionate about God, serving others, and nonviolence. Born in the small town of Mebane, North Carolina, education and working for peace became a positive outlet for her at an extremely young age.
Ms. Evans passion for nonviolence and peace stems from her serving with the National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere and Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service. She now uses her education, teachings on nonviolence, travels, personal experiences, dance, and spirituality as a trainer, advocate, and speaker. Kit currently resides in Orlando, Florida.
Ryan BellRyan Bell is the Senior Pastor of the Hollywood Adventist Church in Los Angeles, CA. A recent doctoral graduate from Fuller Theological Seminary, he teaches part-time at Azusa Pacific University and is active in congregation-based community organizing and interfaith peacemaking work around the city.