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Literary Critic George Steiner, Whose Views on Anti-Semitism Drew Controversy, Dies at 90

…mbitious critic George Steiner at the age of 90. While both men were prone flights of metaphysical abandon and strong opinion, it was Bloom who was more widely known among the general public, whereas at times even literary theorists and critics seemed unaware of Steiner. It was their loss, for the polymathic Steiner was arguably the most brilliant, engaging, and creative of the twentieth-century’s English-language critics. Steiner was incapable of…

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Is Trying Really Good Enough? ‘The Good Place’ Has a C-word Problem

…named Doug picked a dozen roses for his grandmother, for which he gained a number of points. In 2009, another man named Doug also gave his grandmother a dozen roses, but actually lost points for doing so, precisely because in doing so, he supported global warming and the exploitation of labor on the other side of the world. Follow the money Yet, even though much of the characters’ motivations and the show’s driving argument for reform rests upon t…

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I Was a Stranger: New York Activists Stage a Lenten Action for Sanctuary

…rvice this week. The feet of undocumented immigrants are battered by their flights from violence, poverty, and war. Right now, they are also ready to run from the possibility of deportation and the possibility of yet another separation from their families. Whose feet will Cardinal Dolan, so willing to pray over President Trump, choose to wash? When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he told them that “no servant is greater than his master.” W…

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Trump Doesn’t Need to “Pivot” if Evangelicals Do it For Him

…ngers off Twitter. Whether this will sway the fracturing of a considerable number of Catholic voters from that base, however, remains dubious. His address to the group also shows his evolution into someone less ill-at-ease with Bible verses and more attuned to the language of America as a Christian nation. Little wonder than the newly bonded duo of Eric Metaxas and David Barton have positioned themselves on the team’s offensive line. Religious rig…

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The Blockbuster Spirituality of John Green’s “The Fault In Our Stars”

…attached to a nose tube and lugging an oxygen tank, must climb many narrow flights of stairs to reach the famous “annex.” The film provides tight, wrenching shots of her claustrophobic struggle—the stairs that briefly lengthened Anne’s days could shorten Hazel’s life. Yet, for the moment, Hazel triumphs. She collapses at the top of the stairs and recovers to view the Frank family’s hidden refuge. Ultimately, overcome by the emotion of their journe…

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The Myth of the Maya Apocalypse

…zero, a numerical system that allows you to do calculations of very large numbers very precisely. The Maya fell in love with numbers too cumbersome to calculate with Roman numerals. The Maya believed these numbers created some sort of godly power. Say, by some miracle, that 12/21/12 does turn out to be the end of the world… how would you spend your last day on Earth? I would get together with the people I love and tell them how much I really love…

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Too Hot for Shul: Rabbis Seek Healthy Israel Dialogue After Gaza

…ger chilling effect in the American Jewish world, yes; I’ve gotten so many phone calls and voicemails [from people] who have had something happen to them—this summer I do believe it has gone off the rails.” Yet, Kleinbaum said, “I do think my job is to create a Jewish space in which this discussion can take place without saying this person is not a good Jew and another is a good Jew. That, I think, is a reachable goal for my community.” Many rabbi…

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Pentecostal Prayer Gangs: New Film Documents Religion in a Brazilian Prison

…ader. What was the culture of the prison? At night, there was one guard for 800 prisoners. In the Rio prison system there’s no real government presence; state control in the prisons is just a façade. The prison gangs are the most powerful presence, but the church exerts a strong influence too. There were about 400 inmates in the gang camp inside the prison, and 40 to 50 in the church camp. The rest were neutral people who kept to themselves in the…

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Teaching Love: Soulforce Takes it to the Quad

…w dozen yards of the riders and take pictures of the scene with their cell phone cameras. Traffic on College Avenue begins to pick up. “You’re protesting God!” a motorist hollers when he catches sight of one of the Soulforce banners. Finally a slender young man wearing a “CBC Soccer” jacket ventures all the way to the sidewalk. “I just kind of want to show them I care,” says Jonathan Jacobs, a junior at the college. Jacobs, whose family moved to C…

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Why I Wrote the Freedom Seder And Why It’s Still Necessary 50 Years After Dr. King’s Assassination

…tian radical A. J. Muste calling Moses the organizer of “Brickmakers Union Number 1” and a pacifist Russian rabbi named Tamaret—wove them all into a new Telling of the tale of freedom. In that Telling, the then ongoing, even now unfinished, struggle of Black America for freedom was interwoven with the ancient story of the Israelites’ struggle to end their slavery under Pharaoh. Where the old Haggadah had what seemed to me a silly argument about ho…

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