Every September college students confront a myriad of student activity organizations, each competing for student loyalties. While campus religious groups might be considered realms for quiet reflection and prayer, things change amongst a plurality of competing enticements for student membership. Suddenly, the Catholic Center is just one option alongside a cappella choirs, the Beekeeping Club, the Anime Club, the Cigar Aficionados, the Harry Potter Alliance, and the Wine & Cheese Society. What’s a religion got to do to get American... Read more

A 2012 University of Chicago study reveals that the U.S is among the five most religious nations. How does that play out? Listen to sermons throughout religious America and you are likely to hear variations on the lofty principle featured in both the Old and New Testaments: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But as we well know talk can be cheap. Perhaps that’s why the Epistle of James calls for action: “Faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:14). And Judaism mandates “mitzvahs”... Read more

by Daniel White HodgeR3 Contributor Hip Hop is a voice: a voice that openly speaks for the marginalized, the poor, the downtrodden, and those living in oppressive conditions. Hip Hop is an urban sub- and co-culture that seeks to express a lifestyle, attitude, and/or urban individuality. Hip Hop rejects Eurocentric culture and seeks to increase a social consciousness along with a racial/ethnic pride. Hip Hop is also a musical genre that uses rap music as a vehicle to send and... Read more

I may have to repent after writing what some may consider a theological text. To talk about sex is to sin, both sexual and unpardonable, but the temptation is too strong to resist. Marcella Althaus-Reid (2001) asks us why do a theology of sexual stories, isn’t that an issue for the private realm? Her response: no, because sexuality permeates economic, political, and societal life. “Without a theology of sexual stories, the last moment of the hermeneutical circle, that is, the... Read more

By Kimberly Peeler-Ringer R3 Contributor Read Part 1 hereNeedless to say, it was a bit awkward to see such a wordsmith as Bishop Noel Jones apparently forget that “no” is both a complete sentence and a viable option when it comes to his zealous female fans. But there were other challenges I had with the pilot episode as well. Bishop McClendon’s exegesis of 3 John 1:2 stands out in particular, as well as the subtle suggestion that having expensive material... Read more

The Graduate Group in the Study of Religion has received final approval from the Office of the President to establish a M.A. / Ph.D. program. It will admit its first students for the 2013-14 academic year.“I am delighted that this new graduate group has been approved,” said Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies. “The graduate group in the Study of Religion emerged, along with Performance Studies, as the leading candidates in our divisional... Read more

Last week, the nation’s capital was host to Value Voters 2013 Summit, a three-day political conference for predominantly religious conservatives. Among the smattering of social and economic issues at hand, the overall tenor of the Summit focused on eliminating Obamacare, expanding the tangible presence of Christianity through the public arena and military and preventing the proliferation of easily available birth control and abortion. In speeches, lunches and breakout sessions, American’s Christian Right worked out strategies to bring the values of... Read more

Last Thursday Baptist ethicist Russell Moore made a case for religious liberty in a way that perhaps startled critics who see conservative evangelicals as theocrats. He advocated on behalf of non-Christians. At a Washington, D.C., symposium entitled“Faith, Culture & Religious Freedom in the 21st Century,” Moore said that evangelicals have done a poor job of paying attention to the religious freedom of others. He declared, “One of the mistakes people made in the past is a kind of majoritarian understanding, maintaining our own... Read more

by Stacy DandridgeR3 Contributor In my last post, I suggested that GOP members who want to “defund Obamacare” remind me of the story of Jesus and the Leper. You know the lepers…those persons we push to the margins. You know the lepers…the mothers in our communities who come to church to worship God, but is made to feel less than because she has three children and no husband. You know the lepers…the man who comes to church, serves in leadership,... Read more

Dishheads know I believe that you cannot understand the current GOP without also grasping how bewildered so many people are by the dizzying onset of modernity. The 21st Century has brought Islamist war to America, the worst recession since the 1930s, a debt-ridden federal government, a majority-minority future, gay marriage, universal healthcare and legal weed. If you were still seething from the eruption of the 1960s, and thought that Reagan had ended all that, then the resilience of a pluralistic,... Read more