Over the coming weeks, a number of theo-bloggers (feel free to join in!) will be posting responses to (CST Dean) Philip Clayton and Steven Knapp’s new book  The Predicament of Belief.  This “blog tour” is setting up for something that the popular theological podcast Homebrewed Christianity has been wanting to try: a Theo-Nerd book party. Here’s the idea: HBC will collect all blogger’s questions for Dr. Clayton, have a party at his house, make him sweat asking them in a... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Monica A. Coleman. Why are mainline denominations dying?  I was recently in a trustees meeting for one of these denominations.  The trustees were grilling a representative from the committee that works with campus ministry.  The overall concern of the trustees seemed to be that their investments in campus ministry over the years had not yielded significant returns.  They were experiencing increased debt, and... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. During World War I, many states instituted mandatory flag pledges as a way to inculcate children with a sense of American unity and patriotism. But by the late 1930’s, close to two thousand pupils all across America had been expelled for their refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, with a large number of the expelled... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. “[The] Plaintiff hasn’t a ghost of a chance.” So Justice Israel Rubin of the Appellate level of the New York Supreme Court wryly said in his majority opinion in response to a seemingly strange, but nonetheless precedent setting case. Today, Stambovsky v. Ackley is read by nearly every law student in the country, and even just... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Dr. Monica A. Coleman. I begin by stating that Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us is my first introduction to author Seth Godin.  I have not read any of his other books and was not familiar with his work.  I state this to preface my next comment.  How in the world does one writing a book on leadership, primarily targeted to the... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. The relationship between medicine, religion, and law has recently become a dominant theme in the media. Outrage has been conveyed over the Obama Administration’s decision that nearly all employers cover contraceptives in their employees’ health care. Originally, this was meant to include Catholic schools, hospitals and charities. In response, the Catholic Church, understandably, opposed such an... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Becoming a Public Scholar” course and is directed by Monica A. Coleman. My college math professor was one of a kind. He affectionately called his calculator “Fritz,” and would put it in his back pocket on cold mornings to warm it up. He would get one haircut per semester, whether he needed it or not, which would involve shaving his entire head—beard included. He taught calculus, but he believed in math. He... Read more

This post is written in conjunction with the “Religion and Law in the U.S.” course dialogue project and is directed by Grace Yia-Hei Kao. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” With this amendment to the U.S. constitution, I and many other religious people feel welcome to practice, establish, and propagate our faith in a peaceful and competitive multi-religious environment.  I appreciate and thank the founding fathers for their wisdom and for such a clause.  Due to... Read more

I first became aware of Gary Dorrien in February of 2005, when he gave a speech at Progressive Christians Uniting’s annual gala. He spoke eloquently on the subject of Empire, proffering new and challenging ideas even among a group of people who were already well aware of George W. Bush’s cabinet and the Administration’s Project for a New American Century. The themes he included in his talk are archived in an article he wrote for Cross Currents entitled, “IMPERIAL DESIGNS... Read more

The Republican primaries are giving us a foretaste of the themes the Party intends to run on in this year’s presidential campaign. It appears that at the core of the Republicans’ message will once again be an effort to portray President Obama as somehow not really a true American. Newt Gingrich has been comparing Obama’s political views to those of the well known community organizer, Saul Alinsky. Mitt Romney is contrasting his own views in support of unfettered capitalism to... Read more