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“As Orthodox As They Come”: A Backstage Conversation With Rob Bell

…n the language so that it had—not playfulness, but just, “this is the best new evidence. This is the best new story we got going now.” Here’s the critique: that, “the universe is expanding” is a very loose way of talking about love or personal development. It’s a superficial connection between things that are substantially different. If the metaphor breaks down, [at least] I took a valiant effort at connecting a few things. Malcolm Gladwell, who e…

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The High Church of Art

…t influential positions were as Director of the Simon Guggenheim Museum in New York (1952-1960); he was there when the new building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright opened, though he was ambivalent about it, worrying that the space was designed to promote the architect, not a spiritual experience of inner space. And then he served as Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (1961-1967). The shows Sweeney curated, the work he collected, and the…

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SoulCycle Looks to Sell its Soul

…sses in the Hamptons (which includes early class signups) runs for $4,000. New York magazine interviewed one New York City rider who, by the magazine’s estimate, was spending more than $21,000 on SoulCycle each year. A single class, sans early sign-up perks, costs nearly as much as a month-long membership at my local YMCA. Meanwhile, back on SoulCycle’s website, instructors describe their work in frankly spiritual language. Here’s the lightly cond…

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Lying Boldly: Louise Hay and the Problem of Religious Science

…e new mass of it surfacing in California. From its earliest days, many of ​New Thought’s leading teachers and practitioners and promoters ​ were women, which is not to say that women are more credulous but which is to say that women may well experience more suffering in an androcentric America. What was first called New Thought in William James’s time came to be known as New Age thinking toward the end of the 20th century (Mark Oppenheimer’s profi…

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Eddie Long Takes Break from New Birth Pulpit

…rding to the blog PimpPreachers.com, a group of protesters were “Occupying New Birth” and demanding that Long leave the church he has pastored since 1997. At its peak, New Birth boasted 25,000 members, a figure that sank as Long was accused of sexual abuse and assault by young male congregants last  year, claims Long settled in secret in May. The Occupy group passed out flyers which read, “The People must rise up and occupy the pulpits, the tithe…

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Is Zionism No Longer Able to Offer Solutions to the Present Reality?

…it enables liberal Zionists to remain “troubled and yet committed.” Not a new reality, a new story What Hartman is trying to do in his essay is make liberal Zionists relevant again; to make them part of a conversation that now largely excludes them. He argues that liberal Zionists should simply ignore the anti-Zionist “untroubled uncommitted.” While I disagree with his assessment that much of that group traffics in antisemitism (certainly some do…

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A Time to Break Down, and A Time to Build Up: Reinventing Ministry in Post-Katrina New Orleans

…the first week. In Case of Katrina: Reinventing the Church in Post-Katrina New Orleans Ellen Blue Wipf & Stock August 4, 2016 My heart was breaking, too, since New Orleans is my home. My son was in the city as a first responder during the storm, and his family’s home had to be bulldozed. The fear and grief were very personal for me. Yet living and teaching in Tulsa gave me the distance that allowed some level of objectivity that UMC people living…

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As New Poll Finds “Increased Xenophobic Streak,” Republicans Heighten Anti-Muslim Rhetoric

…s in the city’s mosques and other locations was a “mistake.” Trump claimed New York had “tremendous surveillance going on in and around the mosques of New York City and right now that has been totally cut out.” The NYPD spying program, which came to light when the Associated Press reported on it in 2011, was suspended in 2014; the NYPD admitted that it produced no terrorism leads. While authorities have not confirmed that a Syrian passport found i…

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Vatican’s New Media Evangelizing Strategy Can’t Save it from All The Bad News

…ia and its head, Pope Benedict, have not been able to stem the tide of the news cycle about the sexual abuse scandal, nor has the biggest newsmaker in the scandal used media effectively to convey a coherent message to Catholics that is sincere, contrite, and constructive. Even more disturbing is the eagerness to use media in order to evangelize, while demonizing legitimate reporting on the sexual abuse stories. In late April, it was revealed that…

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Heterosexual With Issues: Haggard’s Self-Hate

…, hugging and roughhousing with male congregants, riding a scooter through New Life’s sprawling lobby. Then it all implodes, his ruin narrated in news clips. We see a church leader reading a letter from Haggard to his crying congregants: “There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life.” In an archaic-seeming settlement agreement, the church pays Haggard severance, but “banishes” him…

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