Tag: Violence
Why Monty Python Makes for Good Religion: Reflections on Religion and Film, Part 2/3
(This is Part 2 of a 3-part series. See Part 1 here.) AUTHORITY There is another hot issue in a discussion about religion and the Bible: the question of who has authority over the tellin... Read More
“Give them hope, not hell:” A thing left undone
Conversations in the cafeteria are where much of the real theological work gets done at my seminary, where students hash out their thoughts on what was discussed in the class just ended or the reading... Read More
Does Religion Cause War ?
Does Religion Cause War ? If so, How ? The sociologist David Martin, in his book Does Christianity Cause War? (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), investigates the empirical evidence from “Europe as a... Read More
After Auschwitz, What?
After Auschwitz, no theology: From the chimneys of the Vatican, white smoke rises — a sign the cardinals have chosen themselves a Pope. From the crematoria of Auschwitz, black smoke rises —... Read More
James Baldwin and the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
The 16th Street Baptist Church sits in the middle of downtown Birmingham, Alabama. During the heart of the Civil Rights movement, when Birmingham was known across the nation as “Bombingham,” march... Read More
Please Stop Making God an Accomplice to the Newtown Massacre
No one knows what to say in moments like this. But we utter many things about God. Do we really mean these things? The divine love is not complicit in their deaths. The divine love does not call the... Read More
After Newtown, a Divine Name for Right Now
The tragic events of last week occurred while Jews were reading a section of the story of Joseph and his brothers which is bursting with bereavement. As I read it through the lens of midrash, this anc... Read More
Are We Living In Hell? The Sandy Hook School Massacre and the Presence of God
If this is, as various Christians claim, a world in which the reign of the divine is both now and not yet, and the presence and purpose of God is somehow “realized” here and now, then ought we no... Read More