How could a human invention hold such sway over us as a people? Garry Wills argues that the gun is, for…
the sacred
Sacred space in Sri Lanka
BBC news reports the ordered removal of a mosque in the central town of Dambulla, Sri Lanka.
The shining and the shiny: An interview with Sean Dorrance Kelly
Sean Dorrance Kelly is chair of Harvard University’s philosophy department and has published on topics like cognitive science, philosophy of…
Paul Kahn’s mis-prognosis of America’s social imaginary
As I argued in my previous post, there are indications that Paul Kahn subscribes to Carl Schmitt’s belief in the…
Sacred spaces in profane buildings
Opening on September 13th, Storefront for Art and Architecture will present "Sacred Spaces in Profane Buildings: a New York Archive," a project…
The geopolitical imperative?
Ritualistic evocations of "America" . . . and the deep-seated sense that somehow the United States is sacrosanct space—war, by…
CFP: “Empowerment and the Sacred”
The Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (University of Leeds) is issuing a call for papers for "Empowerment and the…
Is internet dependence sacrilegious?
Commenting on Nicholas Carr's The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, Religion dispatches' Jonathan L. Walton cites an absent…
Let’s get clear about materialism
David Brooks's op-ed, "The Neural Buddhists," is premised on a variety of conceptual confusions that are worth trying to clear…
Deciphered by means of a perfected computer
Seen with a genealogical eye, Youth Without Youth speaks to the sheer danger of the sacred as the robust object…