Religious leaders have long been involved in political debates, social movements, and policy discussions. In a recent piece in on The Dallas Morning News's Religion Blog, Wayne Slater wonders whether or not the Supreme Court's recent decision on campaign finance could change the way religious organizations interact with the political world by allowing them to directly endorse candidates.
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Announcements, events, and opportunities related to topics of interest to TIF readers are posted here. Additionally you may find round-ups of news items and brief commentary on current events.
For a listing of all of the events announcements, click here.
For a listing of announcements regarding books, click here.
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“How Christian Were the Founders?”
by Daniel VacaIn this weekend's New York Times Magazine, Russell Shorto takes a long look at the Texas textbook controversy. Shorto comes to this journalistic party a little late, but his article is noteworthy both for its detail and for the way that he spins the article out into a discussion of the "Christian nation" debate.
February 12, 2010
events
New technologies in research on religion
by Nathan SchneiderHarvard's "New Technologies and Interdisciplinary Research on Religion," which Ruth posted on earlier, is coming up on March 12-13 and is open to the public.
February 12, 2010
books
Maimonides, man of the Mediterranean
by Nathan SchneiderBetter late than never: last year, Princeton University Press published Sarah Stroumsa's Maimonides in His World. It is a strictly historical study of the Jewish thinker who, by some of his contemporaries, was thought an equal to the prophet Moses himself.
February 12, 2010
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Explaining the plague
by Nathan SchneiderAt the Times Literary Supplement, Lauro Martines reviews Cultures of Plague: Medical Thinking at the End of the Renaissance, a new book by Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., which explores how reliance on theology and the medical theories of antiquity gave way to new forms of epidemiology.
February 13, 2010
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Christianity, NASCAR and the Daytona 500
by Lydia BrawnerWith the Daytona 500, NASCAR's Super Bowl, coming up this Sunday, watch for Motor Racing Outreach, a non-denominational ministry dedicated to "introducing the racing community to a personal faith in Christ, to growth in Christlikeness, and to active involvement in the church through relationships that provide care in times of stress, knowledge of God's word [...]."
February 14, 2010
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Transcendence in the brain
by Nathan SchneiderThe current issue of Nature includes a report on a new study in Italy about the connections between certain brain regions and religious experience.
February 15, 2010
events
Conference: “Saving the Sacred in a Secular Age”
by Todd KesselmanThe University of California at Riverside will host a two day conference entitled Saving the Sacred in a Secular Age on February 26-27. Participants include Charles Taylor, Hubert Dreyfus, and Sean Kelly.
February 15, 2010
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Up close with Zecharia Sitchin
by Nathan SchneiderAmong "ancient astronaut" theorists, inhabiting a realm somewhere between pseudo-science and science fiction (see my 2008 overview at The Smart Set), the most elusive and alluring is Zecharia Sitchin. The New York Times's Corey Kilgannon has just done us the service of profiling of the man, even offering a glimpse into the Upper West Side apartment where he has lived for 54 years.
February 16, 2010
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Religion and the Public Sphere internship at the Social Science Research Council
by Jessica PolebaumThe SSRC's Religion and the Public Sphere program is currently accepting applications for a spring semester internship.
February 16, 2010