Hope is found in more than science

September 14, 2011

In our global-minded, multicultural society, we've been told that all the grand narratives are dead, and good riddance. The meta-narratives that enslaved our imaginations were contrived, localized, xenophobic tales that served the status quo and preserved systematic injustice. Regardless of their influence on communities, families, cultures, institutions, and yours and my mental health and spiritual wellbeing, they were all rotten to the core, and in the name of freedom and progress, we jettisoned the lot of them.

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Religions learn to live together

August 15, 2011

How now shall we live together? Though he nowhere poses it, this is the question that renowned sociologist of religion, Peter L. Berger, convened a number of contributors to discuss in his book Between Relativism and Fundamentalism: Religious Resources For a Middle Position.

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Poems about death (and life)

July 25, 2011

Unless they add guitar, drums and a melody, or a catchy hip-hop beat, poets don't usually make a living writing poems. I'll accept some of the blame for that. For all my enthusiastic lip service to the work of poets, it's rare that I actually read what they write. Like a lot of you, I suppose, the only poems I read in school were in textbooks, and I only read them because I had to. What I learned in high school English class is that I don't get poetry.

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How to inherit the Earth

July 25, 2011

In a word, How to Inherit the Earth is an interpretation. There's a ton of discussion concerning Jesus' teaching, who He was and what was He really had to say about poverty and submission when He said, “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Author Scott Bessenecker explains meekness, obedience and Christian servitude as pillars the Kingdom of heaven; it's not about flashy power-ties and overfilled mega church parking lots.

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Holy relics shape Christian piety through the ages

July 25, 2011

It is rare that a book about medieval history can keep the attention of any apart from scholars or, perhaps, live-role-play gamers. But this is just such a book. Holy Bones, Holy Dust, the latest offering from award-winning author Charles Freeman, benefits from being both exceptionally well written and having a strangely attractive subject matter. It should, therefore, take its place alongside his earlier work, The Closing of the Western Mind (Yale, 2002) as a best seller.

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