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 [...]
Will Work for Meaning
On a recent, overcast Thursday evening, I co-led a presentation in San Marcos, Texas, about creating a local, interfaith environmental network. I didn’t know what to expect; in retrospect, I guess I didn’t expect much. San Marcos is a small town compared to the other cities in which I’ve offered this presentation. I wondered whether [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
In Gratitude and Solidarity: A Love Letter to Boston from A Former Student
Dear Boston, I owe you so much. I really do. You are the place where my interfaith journey began. At the beginning of my freshman year at Boston University, I never met anyone who wasn’t a Christian of some sort. I was already interested in other faiths, but *knowing* people of other faiths turned an [...]
Project Conversion: Rebuilding the Shattered Mirror
A few months ago when the request came on the State of Formation email group for reviewers for a book called ‘Project Conversion’, my literary greed took the better of me as I rushed to get hold of yet another book to add to my collection. I have to say that right from the word [...]
Why This Devotee of God Doesn’t Think To Be Atheist Is To Be A Demon
There are two kinds of people in this world. Devotees and demons. I think this is absolutely true. But let’s parse this out a bit. First of all, what is the source of my seemingly eccentric and dogmatic statement? In the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita, Krishna speaks of two kinds of natures that exist in this [...]
Pope Francis: How to Make New Artifacts from Old Power
“We have many experts on the terrain of conflict, but not many leaders. Good Christian leadership radiates a very different presence in a broken world.” I came across these words by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice—from their 2008 book entitled Reconciling All Things—the day after Pope Francis raised the Christian practice of foot-washing to new [...]
Bishop of Bishops! (Mormon Poetry for a Catholic Moment)
Habemus papam, and everyone seems to know it. Something that surprised me during Pope Francis’ election process was the way that this event seemed to produce an ripple of Catholic consciousness that extended far beyond the normal bounds of the Catholic community. I remember, for example, the way that several of my non-Catholic friends and [...]
Beyond our life of Pi: Encountering multiple religious belonging and comparative theology with Francis Xavier Clooney, S.J.
I remember reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel several years ago and how my heart would resonate with each experience of the sacred by the story’s brave protagonist, a Tamil boy from Pondicherry, through his adventurous openness to spirituality beyond the borders of one religion. This story that became the Oscar-winning movie is more than [...]
Contributing Scholars
Jared Hillary RuarkHello! I'm a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School seeking ordination in the United Church of Christ. You can follow me on Twitter @JHRuark.
Saumya Arya HaasSaumya Arya Haas, Executive Director of Headwaters/Delta Interfaith, advises local, national and international interfaith and social equity organizations including The New Orleans Healing Center. She is a Manbo Asogwe (Priestess of Vodou) and hereditary Hindu Pujarin, writes and lectures about religion, and is a part-time ALB (undergraduate) candidate in Religious Studies at Harvard University School of Extension Studies.