Dear Americans: In 1945, French philosopher Jean Paul-Sartre reflected on his visit to America and wrote, “In this land of freedom and equality there live thirteen million untouchables. They wait on your table, they polish your shoes, they operate your elevator, they carry your suitcases into your compartment, but they have nothing to do with […]
Is there anybody left who hasn’t heard about the fourth-century papyrus Karen L. King, professor at Harvard Divinity School, calls “The Gospel of Jesus’s wife”? The fragment contains only a few lines of Coptic text, one of them stating: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife…’” It is still uncertain if the fragment is for “real,” […]
The recent Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 28.1 features a roundtable discussion on Fifty Years of Reflection on Valerie Saiving. Contributors to the Roundtable will bring the conversation to the Feminism in Religion forum to open the discussion to an interactive audience. Throughout the next few months, contributors will feature a selection from their […]
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 […]