Category: Challenges
An Upset in Piperville: An Object Lesson in Loving the Theologically Ridiculous
Over the past few days, one three-word tweet has put the evangelical world into a tizzy: Farewell Rob Bell. The tweet came from John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN and ... Read More
New Life in Lent through a new lens
When I was growing up, I just assumed everyone celebrated Mardi Gras. In my family, when Fat Tuesday rolled around, my mom always made a great meal (it wasn’t until I was old enough to tolerate sp... Read More
What Are We Saying?
For me, this raises important questions about the power and significance of words. The words of prayer are so important that I don’t want to change them, yet they are often so problematic for me tha... Read More
On Hockey, Honor, and the Demonized Other
On February 2, 2011, a National Hockey League game turned ugly. Two professional ice hockey teams, the New York Islanders and the host Pittsburgh Penguins, were nearing the end of a game which the f... Read More
Muslim-Americans and “We the People”
The recent events in Egypt produced many stirring images, among them those of Muslims joining hands so that Coptic Christians could hold Christmas mass unmolested in the wake of a suicide bombing outs... Read More
These Libyan Religious Scholars are My Friends Whether or Not They Want to Be
By Peter Ochs I do not know how to read or write about Scripture this week without turning again and again to the words of anguish penned by religious scholars among the broad population of Libyans cu... Read More
Fear Beyond Fright: Jewish Responses to Tragedy
This paper seeks to provide a preliminary investigation into how Jews respond to fear-inducing experiences. In particular, it will focus on two of the most harrowing experiences of Jewish history: t... Read More
Response to Fear in the Muslim Tradition
This paper explores the role of fear in the Muslim tradition and the religious or historical sources to which Muslim can turn to in order to manage fear on both a communal and individual level. The ... Read More