On the morning of November 5, 2008, we gathered for our daily worship in Yale Divinity School’s Marquand Chapel. There was much joy and celebration in the air as almost all of those gathered felt a new day had dawned across America. I was doubtful. Perhaps it was the cranky ethicist in me peaking around […]
In recent years, you may have noticed bumper stickers asking “Who’s Your Farmer?” Over the last few months, I have been a farmer. Last January, I faced a final push of completing my dissertation that would keep me anchored to my desk and indoors. Longing for summer, the outdoors, and working with my hands, I […]
I want to open a conversation about “radical feminism” so that scholars and activists can have some new, useful things to say when the phrase is bandied about in the media. Until now, I have heard a lot of people distance themselves from it, try to explain it away as someone else’s brand, or ignore […]
The creationism versus evolution debate when discussed in an educational setting does not occur exclusively in the United States. On June 12, 2012, the science journal Nature reported the “successful” petition by the Society for Textbook Revise (STR) to remove references to evolution from high school textbooks in South Korea. According to Nature, South Korea’s […]
In recent weeks, I have had a number of conversations with colleagues about social networking and professional boundaries. The conversation usually begins with the perennial question: Do I let students be my friend? Recently, I found myself confessing to a friend (in-person) that I had completely given up on having a “personal” facebook account. I […]
“Christians and Muslims unite in new bid to silence Lady Gaga.” This was one of the top 10 religion headlines announced by the Pew Forum during the week of May 18 through 24, 2012. The news was a response to the cancellation of Gaga’s concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, due to “security” reasons after receiving strong […]
What is it with those wives who stand up for their husbands with sexual troubles? Most recently, we read about Dottie Sandusky, the wife of the former Penn State assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky. As we all know, her husband had been battling a law suit from eight men accusing him of sexually abusing and […]
Much has been written about the Vatican’s recent censure of Margaret Farley’s 2006 book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics. The high degree of denunciation of this censure has been thoughtful and heartening. Among the many things I find fascinating about the Vatican’s response (with it’s suspect timing) as Baptist observer has been […]
June 4, 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation on the Doctrine of Faith (CDF) released a Notification about Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, by Dr. Margaret Farley, R.S.M. A “notification,” for those who are unfamiliar with Roman Catholic doctrinal disputes, is the way the CDF makes public its judgment on matters related to doctrine. […]
I have just returned from a conference on “40 Years of the Feminist Movement in Germany” at the Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll in Germany. Feminist journalist, writer, and activist Alice Schwarzer, the most prominent contemporary German feminist and publisher of the renowned feminist magazine EMMA , was among the speakers. I am happy to report: not […]