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Conservative Christians Insist the Toxic Theology Portrayed in the Duggar Family Doc is ‘Fringe’ — But is it Really All That Different?

…governments alike under God’s “jurisdictional authority.” While Gothard is best known for his theology of authority within family structures, it’s this same theology of immediate, joyful obedience and deference to authority figures in the home, church, and government that has spread far beyond card-carrying members of the IBLP. Fringe theology? If Gothard’s theology of authority structures continues to echo through politicians and organizations th…

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Papal Profanity: The Vatican’s Pagan Museum

…nd repatriation are the new buzzwords in American museums, and some of our best museums (the Getty, the Metropolitan, the Cleveland Museum, the Princeton Museum) were recently forced to send a lot of Greek works of art back, not to Greece, but to Rome. It’s all a bit bewildering, but fascinating at the same time.   Which leads me to a second project, a book about the Greek island of Crete where I excavated for five years. I want to use Cretan hist…

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To the One-Percenters, With Love

…o regroup the protesters who’ve been scattered by the police. Is money the best thing you have to leave your grandchildren? Is a killing in the market your best incentive for not killing yourself? Yes, some of your colleagues would laugh at you if you went out to protest. Marie Antoinette laughed too, until she found herself smiling up from the bottom of a wicker basket.        The image will seem over-the-top only to the slow learners. I mean tho…

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Conventional Wisdom: RNC/DNC Giving God a Bad Name?

…join in reflection and worship as well as meet, coordinate and plan how we best share our testimonies with other people of faith around the nation.” Strider even insisted that the Democrats, unlike You Know Who, grasp that faith without works is dead; he writes that the real story of Charlotte is of a “party that lives what it preaches.”   Well, yes and no. It’s a party that gives Elizabeth Warren a microphone even as it dispatches Rahm Emanuel to…

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Book Burning and the Scapegoating of Islam

…erings to supernatural powers. Rene Girard is a philosopher who is perhaps best known for an intriguing theory about the religious practice of sacrifice. Social life, for Girard, inevitably inspires violent impulses. But social life also requires that these impulses be suppressed. The solution is to direct those impulses toward a scapegoat—a victim, chosen on the basis of accessibility, who becomes the target of the society’s violence, thereby ena…

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How New Religions Are Made

…ral European occult practices, and freemasonry. Although Matthew tried his best to hide this religious bricolage, his papers offer a rare opportunity to see how new religions are made. Is there anything you had to leave out? Tons. I came to see Black Israelites as being very closely related to Black Muslims. Not only was there overlap between the groups’ memberships, but it was not uncommon for groups to blend elements of both Judaism and Islam in…

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Run Hajar Run

…preparation for the rigors of the hajj rituals. I’m still researching the best program for me, but it’s been a week with no sugary sweets and no white flour. I’m still working my way to having six small meals a day, right now I’m at about five. I also included two brisk half-hour walks each day, when I can make them. The morning walk is less of a challenge, even when I have my grandson. In fact, especially when I have my grandson, because I push…

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How to Choose a Tour Company for Your Hajj

…tarted asking friends, and friends of friends. By far, I think this is the best thing to do if you are like me: totally disconnected with hajj and umrah travel possibilities. I was so glad I did, because I got what sounded like the best thing I could imagine to overcome all these unknowns: a hajj guide recommended highly by a friend with details that suited my personality. Things like: we went here first and there last, because it limits the lines…

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COVID-Denying Father Sergei is Just the Latest Example of the Russian Orthodox Church’s ‘Holy Man’ Problem

…n Vladimir Putin has his own renegade holy man. The spiritual father knows best The trouble arises from what’s actually one of the more humane and helpful customs of Orthodox Christianity: the spiritual father. (There are technically spiritual mothers as well, but the exclusion of women from the ordained clergy has historically kept their numbers small.) Deriving from the ancient Egyptian monastic tradition (the oldest in the Christian world), it’…

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The Accidental Worshiper: Following the Music

…incerity of purpose that cannot be ignored. I would argue that some of the best theology right now is being done by ethnomusicologists. Haynes’ feminist critique of Mars Hill is absolutely inspired and inspiring. Navigating the fine line reflects a certain theological or ethical stance as well. It’s an ambiguous set of practices. One does not simply borrow. One reflects one’s theological or ethical convictions in the process. In Secular Music and…

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