Paul Harvey Readers of my entries on this blog (those of you who are still awake, at any rate) will know of my previous career as a biology major (and thanks a lot, Physics 201, for making me see that perhaps History was a better way for me to go), and my literary love of Darwin’s Origin of the Species , which I’ve blogged about before. HNN this week is featuring a great set of responses and reflections on the Scopes Trial and the issue of the tortured discussion of evolution in public discourse. No other scientific “theory,” even those which would appear to pose major challenges to certain genres of biblical interpretation, invokes such passion and furor
Read more from the original source:
God Didn’t Make Me No Monkey Man: An Evolutionary Biologist and a Humanist Discuss How to Discuss the Scopes Trial at 85
Paul Harvey I’ve been meaning to get back to doing some yoga, something I did in years past, as a supplement to my normal exercise diet of web-surfing, Netflix-watching, fantasy-football-playing, and martini-glass-lifting. Every time I think of doing so, however, the same chilling thought comes to mind: what will Matt Sutton say
Go here to read the rest:
The Soul Destroying Poison of the East; or, Why I’ll Assume the Savasana Posture while Watching Mad Men
Paul Harvey Ted Haggard is back with a new church (as we blogged about here before). To no one’s surprise, it has outgrown its original “barn” and has moved to downtown Colorado Springs for the time being.
Go here to read the rest:
Ted Haggard: He’s Baaack!
I’m not trying to perpetuate a conspiracy theory, but it does seem clear that atheist and related “freethought” groups around the country are borrowing from each other’s playbooks. The local chapter of Atheists of Florida had a forum last night, titled “Meet the Patriots,” that was intended to promote their position that atheists are just as loyal as other Americans.
Read the rest here:
Atheist Billboards Strikingly Similar in N.C. and Here
Paul Harvey Matt Hedstrom of the University of Virginia send along this information about a conference on William James. For fuller information on this conference, click here . In the Footsteps of William James A Symposium on the Legacy – and the On-Going Uses – of James’s Work Organized by the William James Society and co-sponsored by the Chocorua Community Association and the Houghton Library at Harvard University August 13-15, 2010: Chocorua, NH August 16, 2010: Cambridge, MA Schedule Friday, August 13: Chocorua, NH • 4:00 – 6:00 pm: Registration at Chocorua Public Library • 5:30 – 7:00 pm: Welcoming reception at Runnells Hall • 7:00 – 8:30 pm: Speaker Saturday, August 14: Chocorua, NH • 7:30 – 9:00 am: Breakfast and registration at Chocorua Public Library • 10:00 – 11:30 am: Speakers • 11:30 am – 1:00pm: Lunch (not provided) and seminar conversations • 1:00 – 2:50 pm: Speakers • 3:00 – 5:00 pm: Shuttle Bus from Runnells Hall to a guided tour of James-Peters Home • 5:00 – 8:00 pm: Dinner (not provided) • 8:00 – 10:00 pm: Concert at Chocorua Community Church, 40 Deer Hill Road (a few doors from Runnells Hall): “A Night To Remember… William James” featuring New Hampshire storytellers, folk musicians, and period music played by the Chocorua Cornet Band Sunday, August 15: Chocorua, NH • 8:00 – 9:00 am: Breakfast at Whittier House • 9:00 – 10:00 am: Speaker • 10:30 am – 12:20 pm: Speakers • 12:30 – 2:00 pm: Lunch (not provided) and seminar conversations • 2:00 pm – evening: Free time Afternoon activities available: Self-guided tours of Tamworth and Chocorua, hiking on Mt
Originally posted here:
In The Footsteps of William James: Conference Announcement
Paul Harvey Apparently this is religion in early/colonial America week here at the blog! Recently I had occasion to re-survey some of the literature about the California missions, especially one of my favorite recent works of scholarship, Steven Hackel’s Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish Relations in Colonial California, 1769-1850 , for my money the most thorough scholarly study of the subject, full of painstakingly constructed data sets from mission records — the book is reviewed at length, and quite thoughtfully, here. Religious studies scholar Quincy Newell’s new book on native life and religious practice at a California mission is now out, and it came to my attention via the Choice review reprinted below. Her work brings ethnographic and religious studies methods to bear on the subject, and zeroes in on one mission in particular.
Go here to read the rest:
Constructing Lives at Mission San Francisco
The New York City community board endorsed the Cordoba House, a community center and mosque planned for construction near Ground Zero. Significant opposition has emerged against the project. Sarah Palin even weighed in this weekend, tweeting, “Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts.
View original here:
A mosque near ground zero?
Editor’s Note: A previous reference and post on the Pilgrims provoked a flurry of emails from scholars and others quite passionate on the subject.
See original here:
Strangers and Pilgrims, Travellers and Sojourners
OK, so this comes from the Rev. Dusty Ray, pastor of Heartland Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he is one of the leaders of a movement opposing the construction of a new 52,000-square-foot, “megachurch”-style Islamic center, including a mosque. (Who knew Murfreesboro, Tenn., had such a thriving Muslim community?)
Originally posted here:
Unintended Ironic Quote of the Year
Editor’s note from Paul: After reading this, also check out the companion piece reflecting further on this post, over at Tenured Radical . Janine Giordano Drake It all started this past May with an email composed by an undergraduate student in “Introduction to Catholicism and Modern Catholic Thought,” a course offered in the Religious Studies department at the University of Illinois. The student forwarded to the department chair an email about utilitarianism and Natural Law that his instructor, Catholic theologian Kenneth Howell, sent to the class during the term
Go here to see the original:
Teaching Sexuality and Religion
We welcome the following guest post from Samira Mehta, a graduate student in American Religious Cultures at Emory University who is writing a dissertation on Christian/Jewish interfaith families in the U.S.
Original post:
Nikki Haley and the Construction of South Asian Identity
In its 2010 National Security Strategy, the Obama administration sought to sever the relationship between Islam and terrorism, rejecting the use of terms like ‘Islamic terrorist’ and ‘jihad’ to describe acts of terror. The linguistic change was a policy shift from the Bush administration and part of Obama’s overall strategy to reinvent America’s relationship with the Muslim world
More here:
What to call terrorists?
Today’s guest post comes to us from our Senior Norwegian correspondent Hilde Løvdal, who posted here last year on ” The Adventures of a Norwegian in Colorado Springs .” Today she sends her exploration of the influence of contemporary Christian music in her homeland. People often ask me why I am so fascinated by American evangelicalism
View original post here:
The Oslo Soul Children and the Cowboy Twins
Randall Stephens A review essay in the July 2 issue of the TLS is well worth the read (though it doesn’t appear to be on-line). It gives some perspective on whatever counts as “secularization” in the United States.
Go here to read the rest:
Everything is Bigger than Jesus in England
Todays’ guest post comes from Matt Bowman , a Ph.D. candidate at Georgetown University who normally blogs at Juvenile Instructor. Matt follows up on my post from Friday focusing on the theological motifs in Dan Gilbert’s open letter to Cleveland Cavaliers fans.
View original post here:
Gilbert’s Jeremiad of LeBron the False Prophet, Part II
The Dalai Lama, who just celebrated his 75th birthday, often refers to the ‘oneness’ of all religions, the idea that all religions preach the same message of love, tolerance and compassion. Historians Karen Asmstrong and Huston Smith agree that major faiths are more alike than not. But in his new book “God is not One,” religion scholar and On Faith panelist Steve Prothero says views by the Dalai Lama, Armstrong and Smith that all religions…Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.
Read the original:
All religions the same?
Paul Harvey Mike Altman and others here frequently have called for expanding the boundaries of the sacred for analysis, and since various contributors here have posted on everything from Disney Religion to Green Day’s American Idiot to early modern tattoos, I should think this would be a receptive venue for an expansive view of religious ritual. All the same, there’s plenty of room here for traditional theological analysis.
More:
Remember, LeBron, You Got to Go Through Hell Before You Get to Heaven
7/9 God’s Love In Us (1 John 3:17) God’s love springs into action all the time. This is what needs to be demonstrated that the world may know Him. The encouraging…
Go here to read the rest:
GOD’S LOVE IN US (Encouraging Word)
Art Remillard When I think of “muscular Christianity,” I don’t immediately imagine the “ body as temple” theologians , as Cliffor d Putney has called them. Yes, the Luther Gulicks gave the movement intellectual heft
Originally posted here:
Don’t Mess With the Neo-Macho Christians!
Paul Harvey In The Book , David Wallace-Wells has a nice review of a book that will interest some of you, especially you colonialists and economic history types: Nick Bunker, Make Haste from Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and their World . I haven’t read this book, but the review is interesting, and ends with a nice passage: The unfortunate emphasis in Making Haste on pilgrim entrepreneurship, and its pointed disinterest in Calvinist theology, is telling, and natural enough. Though the United States remains in some sense a Christian nation—churchgoing, evangelical, exceptionalist—the strange theology of our Puritan forebears is far more foreign to us, and far more difficult to reckon with, than their scuffling pre-market mercantilism.
See the original post here:
By the Rivers of Babylon, where the Pilgrims Wept
by Matt Sutton I was hesitating to do a 2010 version of “Know Your Archives” for the sake of the Springfield, MO, Chamber of Commerce. But since Paul asked for it… In late May I returned to the Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center for research. I was there eight years ago, on my first major research trip as a graduate student.
Read the original here:
How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Know Your Archives Part IX)
Paul Harvey Over at Religion in the American West , James Bennett writes of archive envy as he bides his summer time stay-at-home-dad-ing and looks forward to future archival research ventures in his new field of religion in the West. Bennett’s memories and query recall a thread here which went several rounds last year, and which we’ll invite further reflections from anyone interested: Know Your Archives , the last entry of which was quite recently, Know Your [Digital] Archives
See the original post here:
Archive Envy Redux
Paul Harvey While some of you reprobates were out testing the new micro-beer selections on the 4th of July, some of us were putting our long personal nightmare (a book manuscript) finally to post and ready to be shipped out for its deployment — at long last! (I tested out a new bottle of Old Raj gin, the best bottle of alcohol God ever invented, at the end of all this, so I’ll have to join the reprobate category). Our contributor John Fea was finishing up his book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction; and yes, John, finishing is a good feeling
View post:
Finishing the Columbia Guide to Religion in American History (I’ll Drink to That!)
Paul Harvey Ever wondered about the philosophy and business model of the spirituality catch-all website Belief.net. And who exactly owned it anyway? Yeah, neither did I
The rest is here:
Selling God on the Net: Beliefnet’s Affinity Group
Paul Harvey This won’t be shocking news to a lot of readers of this blog, but an interesting column nonetheless: Charles Blow, ” Rise of the Religious Left ,” in yesterday’s NY Times . He begins: Which political party’s members are most likely to believe that Jesus will definitely return to earth before midcentury
See more here:
Rise of the Socially Conservative Religious Left
> Paul Harvey Today I’m stealing a post from John Fea, who blogs briefly on the new issue of Books & Culture ( and while we’re on the subject, here is a podcast previewing the issue): It is always an exciting day when the new issue of Books and Culture arrives. The July/August issue showed up in my mailbox today. It includes reviews by Bruce Kuklick, Paul Harvey, Susan Wise Bauer, Peter Colcanis, Alan Jacobs, and Karl E
Read more from the original source:
Tragedy, Farce, and Theme Park
Randall Stephens In honor of the weekend’s rockets red glare and wild competitive eating contests, I post here a couple of primary source items related to the National Reform Association.
See the original post:
This Land is Our Land: Surprising or Otherwise Interesting Primary Sources, Part VIII, Fourth of July Edition