Our Mission to Light Candles and Engage in Peace (A Charge to Graduates)
This week, we have been asked to reflect on how our philosophical/religious convictions have helped us to be prepared for major life transitions and moving into new areas of growth and reflection. Here are some of my reflections upon graduating a few weeks ago with my graduate certificate from seminary. On Saturday, May 25th, my [...]
On Catholicism: Why I am committed to building inter-religious relationships
God is One: When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus seems to have replied with the Jewish prayer “Sh’ma Yis’ra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad.” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your [...]
Praying Down the Tornado By Chris Highland
I used to be a “prayer warrior.” One youth group leader in High School cried after I prayed one evening. “I wish I could pray like you,” she sobbed. I sure knew how to talk to the Lord and, alongside a small group of other students, we were sure we could “move the hand of [...]
How shall we then live? Responses to Tragedy
When I was a young girl I used to ask my elders: why our lives were seemingly so enriched (comfortable) compared to others? Why did we have security, shelter, enough to eat, peaceful living conditions, etc. when others were living in poverty, war, homelessness, malnourishment, and facing life-threatening circumstances? Their response was along the lines [...]
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.
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 [...]
After Auschwitz, What?
After Auschwitz, no theology: From the chimneys of the Vatican, white smoke rises — a sign the cardinals have chosen themselves a Pope. From the crematoria of Auschwitz, black smoke rises — a sign the conclave of Gods hasn’t yet chosen the Chosen People.1 –Yehuda Amichai On Yom HaShoah, the Jewish day to mourn [...]
Mining our Political Past for Spiritual Sustenance
A few weeks ago, I completed my final assignment from my third semester of rabbinical school (which ended in January). I’m not one to put things off like that, but this was a special assignment. It involved sitting in a Brooklyn apartment with close to twenty young Jews (and maybe a couple non-Jews?) studying the [...]
The ‘Hindu’ Identity
Hariḥ Ōm and Namaste (customary greeting of Hindus). This being my first post on ‘State of Formation’, I would like to express my great pleasure in being amid this crowd of intellectuals and academicians. Interfaith dialogue is a must- evermore so in today’s world, filled with strife and violence in the name of religion. Unfortunately, [...]
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
Wilfredo Amr RuizAttorney Wilfredo Amr Ruiz is also a Muslim Chaplain and Political Analyst on the Middle East and Muslim World. He is a regular columnist at various newspaper and electronic media outlets in New York, Puerto Rico, and Spain. Ruiz is regularly interviewed and consulted at national and international media outlets on diverse issues on politics of the Middle East and the Muslim World, Islam and Christian-Muslim relations.
Mary Ann KaiserMary Ann is a graduate of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She is currently working as the Youth Director and Justice Associate at a United Methodist Church. Her primary interests reside in the intersections of church and society, particularly in realms of sexuality, gender, race, and ecology. You can follow her on twitter at https://twitter.com/ladygadfly.