Ian Barbour, who almost single-handedly founded the scholarly study of science and religion, died over Christmas. He was 90 years old, and for the last half-century he towered over the developing field of science and religion. Prior to Barbour’s work the interaction of science and religion was dominated by the notion that the two fields were constantly at war, have always been at war, and cannot interact in any way other than war. This “warfare metaphor,” as it is called... Read more

Watch R3 Contributor Candace Benbow discuss Mandela’s legacy, the gospel and entertainment and finally Bishop Joseph Walker and the SHIFT. Read more

Recreational marijuana became became legal in the State of Colorado on the first day of 2014 for those 21 and older. Other states, like Washington, are preparing to do the same. Is this just a further sign of the “moral decay” of American society, or can we say the legalization of marijuana can have a place in a Christian theology that values, instead ofdenigrates, the body? We might think primarily of the individual body and marijuana use, but first let us... Read more

Maybe the Christian Right is right. For almost 40 years now, they’ve been warning us that we’ve entered the wilderness, that traditional religion is being eroded. Did 2013 prove them right? Item One: the Rise of the Nones. This phenomenon — nearly 20% of Americans listing “none” as their religious affiliation — was first documented in 2012, but only in 2013 did it emerge as a demographic and political fact, impacting how we vote, how we live and what we... Read more

Pope Francis is a Charismatic Liberationist. While the Argentine pontiff weighs in on diverse issues in his groundbreaking interview, he clearly emerges as a pastor who is profoundly influenced by what have been two competing tendencies in the Latin American church. In his native Argentina Francis was not a follower of Liberation Theology, which calls for the Church to adopt a preferential option for the poor and strive to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. However, in his first... Read more

The year 2013 marks the centenary of the reported founding of the Canaanite Temple in Newark, N.J. That was the very earliest form of an indigenous African-American Islam, one completely distinct from normative Islam, the 1,400-year-old religion from Arabia founded by Mohammed. From this movement came Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and LouisFarrakhan. The century divides into two main eras: inventing a new religion (1913–1975) and moving toward normative Islam (1975–2013). Timothy Drew (1886–1929), an American black who called himself Noble... Read more

A worrying trend is gaining momentum in the academic study of religion.  There appears to us to be an increasing tendency toward filling professorial vacancies with individuals with PhDs in area studies (e.g., Jewish Studies, Islamic Studies, East Asian Studies, South Asian Studies).  We say “worrying” due to the changes in academic climate and intellectual agenda this development potentially carries with it.  Specifically, we are concerned that the focus on textual and largely premodern forms of “religious tradition” that characterizes... Read more

Made entirely of gray matter and distinguished by its characteristic folds, the cerebral cortex is the brain’s outermost layer covering the hemispheres. Now, researchers from New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University found the importance of religion or spirituality to individuals may be linked to the thickness of their cerebral cortices. “Importance of religion or spirituality, but not frequency of [house of worship] attendance, was associated with thicker cortices in the left and right parietal and occipital regions, the... Read more

Pope Francis, already Time magazine’s person of the year, has been heralded everywhere, often as a welcome new voice for the liberal cause– although such is his hold on the popular imagination that his name is hitched to causes he may not recognise, including American Esquire’s list of best dressed men. Since his election last March, he has done much to revive the tarnished image of Catholicism. In a more minor key, as befits the leader of a much smaller communion, the archbishop of... Read more

These are the top posts from our top contributors in 2013 as determined by page views. To become a contributor click here. Brian Foulks 1. My Lament for the Young Black Males- Peace #Trayvon2. Unmasking a Preserved Blackness: Forming a Personal, Progressive Theology, Part 13. The Realness of Reconciliation-The PriceCarol Howard Merritt1. When Patriarchy Trumps Theology2. How to Avoid Tokenism3. Empowered Women in the Religious RightCrystal St. Marie Lewis1. How Seminaries and the Ordination Process Leave Theologically “Liberal” Christians Behind2. Resurrection: A... Read more