By Sharon Jacob and Leonard McMahon. The current hostility among representatives on both sides of the aisle sheds important light on the relationship between respectability politics and speech. It is sadly yet another experiment where people of color (POC), who historically have relied on their voices to communicate grievance, can test whether the right words […]
By Miriam Eve Mora. The Internet has been rejoicing in “Zelenskyy the Hottie,” praising his role as a leader ready to heroically sacrifice himself for his nation, and creating around him a following of American superfans. As we applaud him from afar, focusing on his image, we are, unfortunately, also relieving ourselves of some responsibility, […]
By Meghan R. Henning. September 2021 marked the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. And Pope Francis encouraged the church to study Dante’s Divine Comedy as a way to navigate the upheaval that is being experienced globally as a result of the pandemic. Pope Francis’ suggestion is aimed at encouraging personal and corporate reflection, part of […]
By Tamisha A. Tyler. At the beginning of 2020 I wrote a tweet that stated, “The Parable Series by Octavia Butler is your required reading for 2020. You think Handmaids Tale got close, you ain’t read nothing yet.” I did not anticipate how well that tweet would age. If the last two years have taught […]
By Nereyda Yong and Aizaiah G. Yong. Two of the most prominent revelations that have come from the COVID-19 pandemic are the widespread inequities that continue to plague marginalized communities as well as the devastating effects due to multiple centuries of systemic racism. What has also been made visible, however, are the precarious circumstances in […]
By Yohana Agra Junker and RJ Lucchesi. As we enter the third academic year disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, I come to the realization that nothing about this experience has been predictable or steady. The spread of the Delta variant has forced our institutions to evaluate, yet again, how classes should or not meet this […]
By Jimmy Hoke. “Is a virus not a kind of zombie, a quasi life-form moving in and out of inertness? It is zombie time…” –Lorrie Moore, New Yorker, April 13, 2020 It is “zombie time”—or time to think with zombies. While the spread of Covid might provide a particularly poignant moment for reading stories that […]
By Yasmine Singh. How does one live in an atmosphere where most if not all bets are against you because of your class, gender, and/or religion? Is advancement possible for those who dream and aspire but struggle to survive? If so, at what cost? Who gets a second chance if they find themselves at the […]
By Leonard McMahon. Part of the fun of the study of religion and culture is to discern how incongruous things cohere, and this is especially true when it comes to the Bible and popular culture. At first blush, the story of the hemorrhaging woman in Mark 5 (NRSV) and this most recent 25th season of […]
By Sarah Kurzweil. Growing up in an affluent New York City suburb with a large Jewish population, I heard the term Jewish American Princess make its way into conversations quite frequently. In the past few years—and especially in light of rising expressions of antisemitism in the United States—I have considered how stereotypes such as the […]