Theological Matrix: Worldviews Exposed
Welcome… What is “the matrix?” The matrix is the space that we as humans develop culturally. We are all human social beings, we are born into community, a world that exists beyond us, yet we influence it as we choose. The matrix is inescapable. To exist in isolation biologically the human would die off. To [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Gavrielle Blank: My Commitment to Building Relationships with Others from Different Religious or Ethical Traditions
As a child growing up in Los Angeles, my friends and I were from all sorts of different backgrounds, religions, and traditions, and we accepted this diversity as normal and beautiful. We were fascinated by each other’s differences, and we loved and accepted each other as we were. Of course, I had no idea how [...]
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 [...]
How Paul Tillich Helped Me Matter
I recently received an email from the fine editorial staff at State of Formation informing me that I am officially a lapsed contributor and my posting account might be deleted. This is very true. I have lapsed in my public reflections about all things religious. When I ask myself why I lapsed, my answers are [...]
Moving from Interfaith Dialogue to Multifaith Action
Next week, the international community will be marking World Interfaith Harmony Week designated by the United Nations to occur annually in the first full week of February where there will be a chance for the global community to promote harmony between all people and to establish a dialogue amongst the different faiths and religions in [...]
Recoding the Conflict: What Chanukah Has to Teach Us About How We Speak
When I was young, my dad used to tell us stories. The stories always involved two young children, a girl and a boy, adventurous analogues for my brother and me, who would be sent off by their parents to undertake great adventure. When the going got rough and the children couldn’t go on, they would [...]
Contributing Scholars
Danielle Elizabeth TumminioThe Reverend Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio is ordained in The Episcopal Church and has taught a variety of educational institutions, including Yale University. She is completing a doctoral degree in practical theology at Boston University, where she researches reproductive loss and assisted reproductive technologies. She is also the author of "God and Harry at Yale: Faith and Fiction in the Classroom" (Unlocking Press, 2010).
Allana TaylorAllana Taylor completed her Masters degree in Divinity at the University of Chicago in 2012 and is currently living in Norman, Oklahoma with her wonderful husband Kyle and their one-year old gift, Isaac. She served as the Communications intern for the Council for a Parliament of the World's religions in 2010-2011. In the fall of 2012 she was a participant in the Middle Prairie Institute for Religion and Public Life's, a non-partisan think tank, annual session. Though her academic interests focus on Islamic Law and the modern state, she has also done research on the intersection of law and culture and questions of institutional justice versus morality. She identifies as an atheist, but is committed to inter-religious engagement and dialogue and is determined to be part of that conversation.
Jason KerrJason A. Kerr recently completed a Ph.D. in English at Boston College. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Twitter: @jakerr35