Essay
Concerning “Goodbye Christ”: Langston Hughes, Political Poetry, and African American Religion
“Politics can be the graveyard of the poet. And only poetry can be his resurrection.” Langston Hughes (1964) On the afternoon of November 15, 1940, Langston …
By Wallace Best
Essay
The Supreme Court’s 2013 Term: Missing Justice O’Connor
The Supreme Court’s new term, which started on October 7, includes several important cases concerning religion. The docket may also dismantle key precedents set by …
By Leslie C. Griffin
Essay
Radical Mission: What is Aish HaTorah Trying to Teach Young Jews?
On my first visit to Jerusalem, in the summer of 2011, I asked an ultra-Orthodox Jew for directions to the nearest ritual bath. The man …
By Michael Schulson
Essay
Who Counts as a Jew?
On October 1, the Pew Research Center released “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” its much-anticipated sociological study. Among other results, the survey found high rates …
By Rachel Gross
Essay
TOMS Shoes and the Spiritual Politics of Neoliberalism
Here they are, smiling and crying, the words catching in their throats as they place tiny shoes to the feet of tiny children. Seven strangers, …
By Lucia Hulsether
Essay
Spike Lee’s “4 Little Girls” and the Aftershocks of the Birmingham Church Bombing
I was watching Spike Lee’s documentary 4 Little Girls when the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case was handed down. An alert flashed on my …
By Briallen Hopper
Essay
On Anti-Semitic Tropes and the Naming of the Federal Reserve Chair
In a scene from the 2010 film The Social Network, the actor who portrays Larry Summers brushes off the WASPy Winklevoss twins, who come to …
By Rachel Gordan
Essay
“I Have a Dream”: The 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s Famous Speech
The Lincoln Memorial may be the most iconic place in the United States. Americans go there alone or with friends and family members to remember …
By Stephen Prothero
Essay
Remembering Robert Bellah
Where do we come from and go to? What are we here for? No one wrestled and played more deeply with these questions than did …
By Steven M. Tipton
Essay
An Evangelical Scientist’s Notes on Climate Change and Faith
Ahaze covers Colorado roads as a fire burns through thousands of acres of dead and dying trees. The fires raging through portions of the Central …
By Dorothy Boorse