This Sunday marks the day when churches commemorate the descent of the Spirit. This feast of fiery tongues and intoxicating presence has haunted the Christian imagination. Symbolizing the divine breath that filled the first humans with life, the rushing mighty wind overwhelms the senses, reminding believers that “there lives the dearest freshness deep down things. . .Because the Holy Spirit over the bent world broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.” Continue Reading »
For those interested, here’s an update on that Rome conference on international religious freedom I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, co-sponsored by the Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s University. The conference will now take place over two days, Friday, June 20, and Saturday, June 21, at the main campus of the Libera Universita Maria SS. Assunta in the Borgo. The updated agenda is available here. Speakers include keynoters Tom Farr and John Witte, as well as Abduh An-Na’im, Pasquale Annicchino, Heiner Bielefeldt, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, Ken Hackett, Francisca Perez-Madrid, Olivier Roy, Nina Shea, Marco Ventura, and Roberto Zaccaria. Proceedings will be in English and Italian with simultaneous translation. If you’re in the area, please join us!
Part Two of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century concerns history of capital in relation to income (the capital/income ratio) over the course of the twentieth century. Continue Reading »
I’ve started reading this year’s big book, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Fascinating stuff, at least to this non-economist. He engages in Big Think, which of course appeals to me. Anyone who writes an essay like “Empire of Desire” is bound to . . . . Continue Reading »
After my Bloggingheads discussion on gay marriage and related matters with Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, a student at a prominent Evangelical college wrote me asking for advice. She said her campus has been riven by the homosexuality debate and she’s found herself challenged to . . . . Continue Reading »
May 31st marked the eightieth anniversary of the Barmen Declaration. Written primarily by Karl Barth on behalf of the German Evangelical Church, a federal union of Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches, Barmen was the resounding “no” to the political agenda of the Third Reich. Continue Reading »
Do First Things readers care that the American Theatre Wing’s 2014 Tony Awards are happening this weekend? Most probably don’t, and that’s probably okay. Continue Reading »
