Vocation and Failure: How Bachmann, Cain, Perry, and Santorum Can All Be ‘Called’ to Run
According to their own testimony, God has called Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum to run for President. God has even, reportedly, called Mike Huckabee to keep his cushy media job and not to run. There is no shortage of coverage of these divine vocations. Much of the writing on the subject [...]
Did Religious Extremism Kill Vittorio Arrigoni?
Last week, human rights activist Vittorio Arrigoni was murdered in Gaza. Found strangled in an abandoned home, Vittorio was an outspoken humanitarian and peacemaker since arriving in Gaza in 2009 on a flotilla carrying food and medical supplies. Aside from working alongside other non-violent direct action (NVDA) folks, Vittorio also accompanied fishermen on their boats as [...]
New Beginnings: Fear and Hope
This post (the first of two) reflects on the fears and hopes that mark new beginnings. What is there to fear for a Christian on Easter morning? What is there to fear for a parent of a newborn child? What is there to fear for a student beginning a dissertation? What is the relationship – or the difference – between fear and hope?
The Curious Case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The former Muslim atheist who “prefer(s) John Locke, John Stuart Mill and Jon Stewart to Jesus Christ,” commends…Jesus Christ?
Pro-homosexuality and anti-homosexuality religious believers together against gay-related bullying?
In light of several high profile cases of gay related bullying, this essay may disgruntle — at least a little — almost everyone who reads it.
Do Only Religious People Have a ‘Calling’?
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post Religion. In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, musician Jack White (of the White Stripes and other bands) reflected on his “calling.” “I was thinking at 14 that possibly I might have had the calling to be a priest,” said White. “Blues singers sort of have the same [...]
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So Does One Religious Tradition (As Well As Atheism) Sharpen Another
If all truth is God’s truth, we must be free to explore it.
Proceeding along the aporetic path
This post is inspired by / in response to a recent post by Honna Eichler. It explores questions of community and responsibility and the difficulty of discerning one’s call.
Mission Creep: TV’s and Christianity’s
I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but in the past few years we have witnessed the dissolution of the missional integrity of the various previously specialized television networks. The military term is “mission creep,” where the vision or goal of an enterprise is gradually expanded to include things that don’t harmonize with the original [...]
Vocation at the Heart of Formation
What a rich blessing it was to help host the Fund for Theological Education’s Leaders in Ministry Conference at Boston University, June 16-20, 2010. Having been an FTE Undergraduate and Ministry Fellow in 2004-2006, it was great both to give something back to an organization that was at the heart of my own formation process [...]
Contributing Scholars
Christopher FiciI am a Hindu minister/teacher and freelance writer for the Huffington Post, Beliefnet, Elephant Journal, Good Business International, and State of Formation. I am currently working on my Master's degree in Interfaith and Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Joshua StantonJoshua Stanton serves as Program Director and co-Editor of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue at the Center for Inter-Religious and Communal Leadership Education (CIRCLE). He is also a Schusterman Rabbinical Fellow and Weiner Education Fellow at Hebrew Union College.
Joshua EatonJoshua Eaton is a freelance editor, a Tibetan translator, and a writer on Buddhism, politics, ethics, and culture. His full bio and more of his writings can be found at his website.