Religion Dispatches
…er essentializing definition of yoga as “a means of uniting the individual spirit with the universal spirit of God” and links yoga to a specific canonical text, the Yoga Sutras. +++ The debates described above involve attempts to define yoga in ways that limit it to within certain bounded categories of identity, belief, or behavior, such as “exercise,” “religion,” “Indian,” or “Hindu.” But yoga identities have not been static or one-dimensional. I…
Read More
…de when I told him the other evening whose shadow had been following me. In 1970, the priest-poet Berrigan was arrested by the FBI while hiding at Eschaton, the property in Rhode Island where Stringfellow lived with his partner, Anthony Towne. “Did you know this fellow is interested in William Stringfellow?” he kept asking people about me as the night went on, as if he also had seen the ghost. William Stringfellow wrote Christian theology and prac…
Read More
…the poor. Both passages are damning for those who think themselves either spiritually or materially rich, but fail to recognize their theological poverty. They implore readers to rethink what it means to be rich and suggest true wealth can only be obtained through a process of self-reflection—and more importantly, self-critique. Is today’s liberalism—and its manifestation in schools like Union—rich in rhetoric but poor in empathy? Are liberals no…
Read More
…ments came in the form of a letter he wrote to the New York Mail & Express, 19 April, 1890, and reprinted in the American Sentinel in July of that year. The Sentinel was an Adventist publication, and while they too wanted to see the coming Day of the Lord, they were against the political work of constitutional amendments, calling out Blair’s “spirit of religious despotism and intolerance” and saying he and his cohorts worked with “mediaeval method…
Read More
…at which protects the center of human thought and reason—and “sword of the Spirit” are not of course acts of aggression, but words. Hence, likewise, the sword of justice wielded in the Revelation of John (Rev. 19:11-15)—the New Testament book most often cited in violent, apocalyptic Christian fantasies—extends from the mouth of the white-robed representation of the risen Christ. He slays the forces of cosmic evil not with physical aggression, but…
Read More…rent traditions while standing before the world in unity. The “yes we can” spirit affirms a deeper unity amidst our diversity. The “yes we can” spirit includes women, African Americans and evangelicals. It includes the LBGT community, all parties in the Middle East, includes Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, employed and unemployed—the list is endless. What if the opening prayer at the inauguration were a call to recognize that we are all…
Read More
…ung Denzel out for future preaching prowess, he has been serious about his spiritual contribution to Hollywood film. In 2007 he explained: When I was about 20 years old, when I first started acting, I was sitting in my mother’s beauty shop. And a woman just kept looking at me… and she said, “Someone give me a piece of paper.” And she wrote down a prophecy. She said that I would speak to millions of people, and I would travel the world and preach t…
Read More…onference: The family today must confront, with creativity and a proactive spirit, the challenge of an individualist and mercantilist culture, based on production and consumption. Unfortunately, we have a mistaken concept of freedom, understood as an autonomy closed in on itself; other forms of cohabitation are privileged that obscure the value of the family, based on the marriage of one man and one woman. With this mistaken mentality, very often…
Read More
…talk about developing a bulletproof faith—which has everything to do with spiritual survival. Yet one of the ways you talk about surviving is in understanding your own value. Then when someone comes at you, show them the dignity and respect they ought to be showing you. One could say we’re “forced into” living this way as a matter of survival, but the truth is we’ve gotten really good at it. I’ve seen us treat each other that way again and again…
Read More
…“Praise Bacon.” As the UCB’s membership drive reaches toward their goal of 100,000 members by 2020, Prophet John declares they will “continue with the philosophy of fighting fundamentalists of ANY religion.” Heather Henderson, Bacon High Priestess, concurs with Prophet John’s assessment. “We are not dogmatic about our stupid rules. The benefits of becoming a member of the United Church of Bacon are joining the 13,000 members who support our 9 Bac…
Read More