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 [...]
A Prayer for Homeless Youth
Winter is loitering in Minnesota this year, even though we’ve asked it to move along. Last Thursday brought a half-foot of snow, and April 19th achieved a record low of 21 degrees before the sun came up on Saturday. The 19th was also the date for Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative’s annual event, A Night on the Street. [...]
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 [...]
Towards Acceptance, Holiness and Removing Stumbling Blocks
This week, we are once again reading Parashat Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27). Biblical scholars commonly refer to these two chapters of Leviticus as the holiness code due to the numerous interpersonal commandments (mitzvot) that are found within. These mitzvot form the foundation of Torah and are applicable to everyone. In addition to loving our neighbor as [...]
Raising Up Interfaith Leaders
The interfaith and ecumenical movements need to raise up young people who understand how to delve into differences of faith and belief while also focusing on grassroots justice work. Too often, interfaith dialogue is approached through a single avenue between commonalities or differences. All the while, social activism is seen as a second step made [...]
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Women Writing: She Answers Abraham on “Faithful Advocacy” and More
My Christian friend LeeAnne got the conversation about Faithful Advocacy started by reflecting on a passage from the Gospel of John: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth…” (14:16-17a). In LeeAnne’s reflection, she explains that advocacy—“speaking up for the [...]
Can Preaching be Prophetic and Pastoral?
A few weeks ago I was sitting in a preaching workshop listening to a series of sermons on the same text. Most of the sermons were a lot alike, but one of them was a little different. It was about a certain social issue. Exactly what the issue was isn’t really relevant, but suffice to [...]
Faith, Sex and Religious Liberty
Bill Keller’s Sunday New York Times column, “The Conscience of a Corporation,” gets to the heart of the current fuss between Hobby Lobby and the Obama Care provision that employers of 50 people and above insure contraception. Recently, the Obama administration made allowances for religiously affiliated non-profit organizations to not cover contraception – yielding to [...]
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 [...]
Contributing Scholars
Diane JohnsonI am currently a student at Pacific School of Religion where I am pursuing a M.Div with a focus on spirituality and social change. I am founder and President of Mmapeu Management Consulting, a national management consulting firm focused on individual and organizational capacity building, leadership development and strategic visioning with social sector organizations. I am most interested in the nexus of sacred activism, social change, and movement building.
Chris HughesChris Hughes is a second-year MDiv student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and a youth minister at a Baptist church. He writes on issues of church and state, environment, and full inclusion of all people in church life.
Sara Williams StaleySara 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.