Over at the Christian Century blog Theolog, John Dart made an observation about the value of humor when it comes to the art of preaching and our own relationship with faith. Being able to connect with people’s ability to laugh, he says, is a gift that helps diffuse tension.
Archbishop of York John Sentamu kicked off debate about the Anglican Covenant with the comment that he doesn’t feel the covenant is creating walls of exclusion but rather is “sails to empower the boat of Communion to sail again unafraid of the storms.” But the other comments from delegates to the synod reflect a wide range of reactions and emotions, including weariness, admiration, reservation, and excitement.
The March issue of The Atlantic is devoted to the topic “Which Religion Will Win”, with a wide ranging series of articles and comments on religion in America and across the world. It begins with a comment by Walter Russell Mead about the apparant moderation of American evanglicals, in which Mead borrows some analysis from Adam Smith.
Mention globalisation and most people think of goods heading across the world from East to West and dollars moving in the other direction. Yet globalisation works for ideas too. Take Brazil’s Bolsa Família (“Family Fund”) anti-poverty scheme, the largest of its kind in the world. Known in development jargon as a “conditional cash transfer” programme, it was modelled partly on a similar scheme in Mexico. After being tested on a vast scale in several Latin American countries, a refined version was recently implemented in New York City in an attempt to improve opportunities for children from poor families.
In black communities, religious leaders have historically occupied a powerful position as gurus, advocates, stewards and preachers. Whether inspiring their congregations to stand up against social injustice or urging a focus on God-centered family values, black religious leaders are a crucial component of a rich and diverse spiritual landscape. In honor of Black History Month, Beliefnet has compiled a list of some of the nation’s most influential black spiritual leaders in 2008.
Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu are backing a church Facebook group urging members to find time in their busy lives to complete 50 actions over the seven weeks of Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday next week. The aim is “to help you become a better neighbour and transform your world for the better”. Actions include polishing someone’s shoes on Maundy Thursday, a reference to Jesus’s washing of the feet of His Disciples; making someone laugh; and leaving a thank-you note for the postman.
Robert Alter has published a new translation of the Book of Psalms that attempts to offer a translation that is truer to the original Hebrew. Why do we need a new translation? As Adam Kirch argues in a New Republic book review, most English translations of the Psalms take a distinctively Christian point of view that distorts the original meaning of the Psalms.
February 23, 2007 marked the 200th anniversary of the British Parliment’s vote to ban the slave trade. But the recognition of William Wilberforce, who lead an often lonely campaign to end the slave trade is not over. This month PBS stations will air The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce.
Theology on Tap is a Catholic program that’s been around for over a quarter century, and in Boston, the lecture series is becoming increasingly popular. Several churches take turns sponsoring the event at various bars around town; most recently, Church of the Advent, an Episcopal church on Beacon Hill, sponsored the event at Cheers as part of its “Portraits of Jesus” series.
For the past two weeks, the Philadelphia Cathedral has been hosting Losang Samten, a Buddhist monk from Tibet, who spent his days there creating a Mandala–an 8′-diameter sand painting/sculpture. Mandalas are a form of iconography in which millions of grains of sand are laid down into patterns that represent the cosmos and everything in it; but they are, being nonpermanent installations (except as photographed), ephemeral.