Paul Harvey Brandi Denison has started a new blog that some of you will be interested in: Religion in the American West , an offshoot of the Seminar on Religion in the American West of the American Academy of Religion .
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Religion in the American West: New Blog and Seminar
The Vatican has for the first time made it clear that bishops and other high-ranking clergy should report clerical sex abuse to police.
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Vatican makes clear bishops must report sex abuse
Rival Revivals and Liberal Protestant Recovery Paul Harvey Just back from the Organization of American Historians (OAH), I had planned on doing an extensive post on the excellent panel I saw there, “Rival Revivals,” featuring papers by Alison Greene, Jarod Roll, and Matt Sutton, and with commentary by Kenneth Fones-Wolf and chaired by Lizabeth Cohen. But now I don’t have to, as we have an excellent summary of the panel from the OAH reporting at HNN , with full videos of the presentations and summaries of the papers. I would just say in addition to what is there that the panel featured the interesting twist of having the fundamentalists of the 1930s/1940s (discussed in Matt’s paper) as the northern, educated elites, in comparison to the various folk preachers, Garveyites, and premillennial radicals discussed in Alison and Jarod’s papers, turning the usual stereotypes about recent fundamentalism on its head.
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Rival Revivals and Liberal Protestant Recovery
Kelly Baker I know that many of you who know me well for just waiting for me to comment on the Hutaree, the Michigan Christian militia group, the nine arrests , and the larger white supremacist plot to reclaim America. What might be more surprising is that I sort of don’t want to.
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Christian Militias, White Supremacists, and Scholars Who Study Them
by Matt Sutton There has been a lot of debate recently among academics about the “black church.” First Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., buried it on the Huffington Post . Then, Religion Dispatches asked some prominent scholars to respond to Glaude.
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The Black Church(?)
It’s a San Antonio tradition about as well-known as the Easter bunny and possibly more beloved — families camping out over the long holiday weekend at city parks with a barbecue pit smoking nearby and music blasting, all in the company of hundreds of other visitors with the same idea.
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Easter park campouts beginning
The following announcement comes to me from Deborah Whitehead, Professor of Religious Studies at CU-Boulder, and is especially directed for blog readers along the Front Range, Denver, Boulder, and northern Colorado. Religion in the 21st Century: Renowned Scholar of Comparative Religion Jonathan Z
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Jonathan Z. Smith at CU Boulder: The Future of the Study of Religion Over the Next 40 Years
Randall Stephens The above was Erasmus’s tongue-in-cheek version of counterfactual scholastic flimflammery. He reduced his angel-dancing-on-pinhead opponents to stuttering monkeys. Certainly, not all counterfactuals are worth their weight in imaginary gold.
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What if Jesus Had Come to Earth as a Cucumber? American Religious History Counterfactuals
Should Pope Benedict XVI be held responsible for the escalating scandals over clerical sexual abuse in Europe? Should he be investigated for cases of abuse that occurred under his watch as archbishop of Munich or as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer
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Pope Benedict’s response to sex abuse by clergy
Paul Harvey Can science explain the evolution of religion, or why there is religion at all? The somewhat obscure public radio show The Really Big Questions , hosted by Lynn Neary, explores this. Just caught the show this weekend, and it was a terrific hour of radio which summarizes a lot of the contending thought on applying evolution to the study of religion in human societies
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The Evolution of Religion, on The Really Big Questions
With Passover coming up Monday evening, Temple Beth-El set aside a special night beforehand for the people who typically pour themselves into holiday logistics and meal preparation: women. 10th annual Women’s Seder
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Women’s Seder mixes Passover tradition with contemporary
What is your vision of heaven? What images – from Scripture, tradition, culture or your personal experience – best describe heaven for you? Read Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller’s new book: “Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife.”…Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.
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What (or where, or why) is heaven?
As he led Mass at Mission Concepción Sunday, after the Spanish Colonial church had been closed for more than half a year for renovations, Archbishop José Gomez thought of the priests and congregants who’d stood in this same sanctuary 255 years before him.
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After six-month renovation, Mission Concepción rededicated
What should pastors do if they no longer hold the defining beliefs of their denomination? Do clergy have a moral obligation not to challenge the sincere faith of their parishioners? If this requires them to dissemble from the pulpit, doesn’t this create systematic hypocrisy at the center of religion?
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Disbelief in the pulpit
In response to the new gay marriage law in Washington, Catholic Charities closed its adoption and foster care programs and cut spousal benefits to future employees — to avoid providing services to homosexual couples. If a church or other religious charity receives government funding, should it follow all government rules, including those against discrimination based on sexual orientation? Or should government exempt such organizations from requirements that violate particular religious beliefs?…Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.
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Do religious convictions trump government rules?
The Beliefnet Web site just concluded a contest for the best spiritual and inspirational films of 2009, just in time for the Oscars on Sunday. I’m not sure of the distinction between spiritual and inspirational, but anyway they had judges’ awards and people’s choice awards.
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And the Spiritual Oscar Goes To…
Randall Stephens The latest issue of National Geographic arrived in my mailbox yesterday. And, behold, it doth have this story on “The Polygamists: A sect that split from the Mormons allows multiple wives, expels ‘lost boys,’ and heeds a jailed prophet.” It’s a well-written, thoughtful piece
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FLDS Cover Story in February National Geographic
From Spencer Fluhman, on behalf of the Mormon History Association: MORMON HISTORY ASSOCIATION STUDENT AWARDS The Mormon History Association (MHA) is pleased to announce two award competitions for exceptional student work exploring the history of those religious traditions originating with Joseph Smith, Jr. The Juanita Brooks Undergraduate and Graduate Paper Awards will be given to the best unpublished papers written in 2009 by an undergraduate and graduate student, respectively. Students are eligible to submit one paper for consideration
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Mormon History Association Awards
Art Remillard Despite the request , I have nothing interesting to say about the Leo Frank lynching. Kelly Baker’s insights ( here and here ) are far more interesting than mine–trust me.
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A Surprisingly Unsurprising Look at Southern Jewish Life in the Age of Leo Frank
Randall Stephens John Cotton was one of the most ambitious and bedeviled Puritan ministers of late-17th century New England. He was pastor of the Wethersfield, Conn., church in his early twenties. He lost the pulpit as the result of a sex scandal and subsequently worked as an Indian missionary on Martha’s Vineyard
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Misunderstood Puritans, John Cotton, and Scandal in 17th-Century New England: An Interview with Sheila McIntyre and Len Travers
by Phillip Luke Sinitiere Last fall, Paul offered an insightful post (and others chimed in with equally thoughtful comments) on the ways that religion intersected with the first episode of Ken Burns’ latest documentary on national parks . For those who missed it the first time around (like me), or for those without an extra $100 to purchase the series (like me), the series begins (re)airing tonight. Did anyone incorporate the first episode into religion or history classes last fall?
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The Scripture of Nature, Part 2
Paul Harvey At the 2010 American Historical Association, my co-editor Randall Stephens organized a session “American Religious Historians Online,” featuring presentations by the likes of Randall himself, Kathryn Lofton (Yale), Gary Laderman (Emory, and editor of Religion Dispatches ), Rebecca Goetz (who started blogging at Historianess back in the Stone Ages), and myself. I was not present at the session itself, but Randall read my presentation for me
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Blogging and the (Non-) Democratization of American Religious History
Back in November, the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church published a document called “God’s Renewed Creation: A Call to Hope and Action.” It was essentially an update of an earlier document, a theological statement about environmental concerns but also addressing poverty and proliferation of weapons and violence.
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The Bishop vs the IRD
Paul Harvey As many of you know, Columbia University Press has an excellent series of books on religious denominations/traditions in America — the Columbia Contemporary Traditions in America series .
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Islam in America: An Interview with Jane Smith
Seth Dowland ABC News reported this week that military contractor Trijicon , recently awarded a $660 million contract to provide rifle sights to the Marine Corps, has been placing “secret Bible codes” at the end of the serial numbers on its rifle sights. The serial numbers end with references to Bible passages such as JN8:12 (John 8:12) or 2COR4:6 (2 Corinthians 4:6). Apparently Trijicon has been placing Bible references on its rifle sights for years, though the U.S.
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Secret Bible Codes on the “Spiritually Transformed Firearms of Jesus Christ”
Call for Papers Millennialism and Providentialism in the Era of the American Civil War October 1-2, 2010 Rice University Houston , Texas The Department of History at Rice University invites proposals for a special conference focusing on millennialism and providentialism in the era of the American Civil War and Reconstruction to be held on the campus of Rice University in Houston , Texas on October 1-2, 2010. An opening address will be given by Robert Abzug of the University of Texas at Austin on the theme of antebellum millennialism and providentialism in the coming of the American Civil War. Edward J.
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Millennialism and Providentialism in the Era of the American Civil War — CFP
Paul Harvey One report and two upcoming seminars/opportunities at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI for you to be aware of.
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Seminars, Young Scholars, and Conference Proceedings at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture