Since we’ve split the atom, dealing with hatred is the fundamental project of the humanities. With that thought, Jim Leach, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, concluded his talk in the University of Virginia’s historic Rotunda. Soft-spoken and notably lacking exclamations or even physical gestures (he’s from Iowa), Leach delivered a clear and inviting speech […]
Civil Discourse and the Humanities Read More »
The small clay cylinder, 2500 years old and a bit beat up has quietly moved people all over the world since its very beginnings. Cyrus II, founder of the Persian Empire produced this declaration of intent for liberty and peace. The National Museum of Iran recently reported that besides Iranian schoolchildren, elites, and not-so, officials
Cyrus’ Enduring Document Read More »
The furor over mosque-building in Manhattan and Koran-burning in Florida reminds us that like it or not, religious differences continue to challenge civic peace. A new book, The Tenth Parallel, by journalist Eliza Griswold narrates her experiences on the 10th parallel, 700 miles north of the equator. This line of latitude runs through territories where about
Where Islam and Christianity Meet Read More »
If you have a chance to check out the Sept. 21 issue of the Christian Century, I hope you’ll have a look at my “Living by the Word” essays. Ironically, one of them pushes the idea of “living by the Word” to include actually challenging that Word. The other concerns a particular word that I’d like to see more of these
“Enough” and Challenging the Bible in The Christian Century Read More »
Frazzled, ragged, and stressed. The bells and whistles and ringtones of modern life, the opportunities, demands, and wide-ranging responsibilities. These days it’s hard not to feel stretched thin, pulled taut, frayed and jagged. Yet our little creature-selves still need silence, stillness, solitude. Silence stillness solitude. A mountain, maybe. Peter Mayer sings of pulling over on
Thanks to a Mountain Read More »
In this time of glad tidings, there’s also no small amount hand-wringing on the one, er, hand, and disdain on the other. While some cry for a return of a Christ-centered to Christmas, others say “hey, it’s not our holiday, so buzz off.” Brit Robin Parry calls for a distinction between Advent and “Mad-spent,” Christmas and “Wintermas” in his Christ-out-of-Christmas post, which finally is shares
Christ in or out of Christmas? Read More »
Working with the Old Testament (a.k.a. Hebrew Bible), one is bound to have to reckon with the nature and place of justice. Granted, sometimes God appears to be inexplicably severe, mean, even. But that’s for another time. That famous “eye for an eye” quote comes from the Old Testament, and although it’s gotten some bad press
Mercy Me!… and Justice, too Read More »
That bit about the lion lying down with the lamb isn’t actually in the Bible, not exactly, but never mind. It’s such an evocative image, and we all know what it means — peace, radical peace, serene and idyllic, right up there with beating swords into plowshares (which is in the Bible, twice for good
