Kidd is quite right; indeed, there are deeper problems with Volf’s thesis. His argument for the identity of the Muslim and Christian Gods collapses under its own weight. Volf’s own logic underscores what the Qur’an itself suggests—that the God http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/06/no-the-god-of-the-qurrsquoan-is-not-the-god-of-the-bible Read more

On Pentecost Sunday all hell broke loose in Rome. Following Mass that day, the unpredictable Pope Francis laid hands on a demon-possessed man from Mexico and prayed for him. The YouTube video of this encounter was flashed around the world, and the story caught fire: Is Pope Francis an exorcist? http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/06/a-tale-of-two-demons Read more

Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain The Torah is more than a constitution and code of laws, more than a set of instructions or even the metaphysical DNA of the universe. It is a marriage contract – a token and gesture of love. http://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/jewish-columns/rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks/torah-as-a-marriage-contract/2013/05/08/ Read more

Matthew Franck Kermit Gosnell has been the equivalent of the American slave-dealer—someone who has done work rendered absolutely necessary by the twisted laws of his regime, but who has nevertheless been ignored or regarded with unease, and even repulsion, by his fellow citizens. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2013/05/10155/ Read more

Christians should not believe those parts of Scripture where God promised that a virgin would conceive: Isaiah 7:14 didn’t really refer to a promised messiah: it was just about a general plan of salvation. And he wasn’t born in the long-promised Bethlehem either – that’s just a metaphor for anywhere, like Slough. And he didn’t have to be a ‘he’ either – that’s just a metaphor for all humankind. And his name didn’t have to be Jesus (Mt 2:21) –... Read more

Why does the Ibn Ezra take a limited view of the mandate to heal? Are we indeed in agreement with the Christian scientists who teach that all healing comes from God, to the exclusion of human medical intervention? The Ibn Ezra’s case is not a hard one to make. The Torah itself instructs that if we listen carefully to the mitzvot of the Torah “then any of the diseases that I placed upon Egypt, I will not bring upon you,... Read more

I have a bone to pick with young, socially conservative Americans, and I know it’s something that will get under your skin. Just sit tight, though, and hear me out, because the elephant in our tidy little room is starting to tear things up. It’s time we acknowledge his existence, and maybe even call in some animal movers to take him back to the zoo. http://thecollegeconservative.com/2012/03/15/underage-dating-the-elephant-in-the-social-conservative-living-room/ Read more

A daring new book by one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars challenges this simple contrast. The Jewish Gospels is a short work aimed at general readers by Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmud at the University of California in Berkeley. In ancient times, the borders between what Judaism and Christianity were far more porous than we conceive today, he argues: it was not until the fourth century that the doctrinal differences were clarified, not least because of the desire... Read more

Among various unwanted truths that grown-ups of the Western world have to contend with these days, here’s one that doesn’t get nearly the traction it deserves: The days of the modern welfare state look to be numbered. http://www.eppc.org/publication/the-post-welfare-state-family/ Read more

Small wonder, given the harrowing times recently, that news about a long-running property fight over a picturesque church in Northern Virginia escaped most people’s notice. But the story of the struggle over historic Falls Church is nonetheless worth a closer look. It’s one more telling example of a little-acknowledged truth: though religious traditionalism may be losing today’s political and legal battles, it remains poised to win the wider war over what Christianity will look like tomorrow. http://www.eppc.org/publication/in-the-war-over-christianity-orthodoxy-is-winning/ Read more