The AP reports that Dr. Kenneth Howell, the recently scandalized adjunct instructor of religion at the University of Illinois, has been offered a position teaching a class on Catholicism this semester.
here & there
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.
Clergy urged to take it easy
by Sam HanThe New York Times reports that several health studies on clergy show that clergy members "now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could."
Reflections on Mormon feminism
by David WalkerThe editors of Scholaristas---a new blog on women's religious history---have launched, as their inaugural forum, a discussion of the 1971 "Pink Issue" of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Now approaching its fortieth anniversary, the publication of that issue "marked the beginning of a resurgence of Mormon feminism and an increased interest in women’s history.
“The Animated Avadhuta”
by Amanda KaplanTrent Gilliss, senior editor of Speaking of Faith, shares the thought-provoking and beautifully drawn short "The Animated Avadhuta."
Peter Berger on multilateral globalization
by Amanda KaplanGlobalization is not defined by one-way Westernization, argues Peter Berger in his new blog at The American Interest Online. Rather, it is a far more complex process than is commonly imagined, and this is indicated, for starters, by the often overlooked influence of Eastern traditions on contemporary Western culture.
Park51 (née Cordoba House) one step closer to construction
by Charles GelmanThe New York Times reported yesterday that the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has effectively made it possible for the Cordoba Initiative to move forward.
Jewish community responds to ADL statement on the Cordoba Initiative
by Jake AlterThis past week, adding to the controversy surrounding the Cordoba Initiative, the Anti-Defemation League (ADL) voiced its opposition to the project, prompting critical reactions from a number of Jewish leaders.
The secularization of secularism
by John D. BoyIn the newest issue of Theory, Culture & Society, British sociologist Gregor McLennan takes a closer look at the "postsecular turn" in contemporary social theory. He argues that this "turn"---if indeed it amounts to one---finds expression in three broad trends: genealogical critique, neo-vitalism, and postcolonial antihistoricism. He mainly discusses these trends with regard to the work of three scholars, each representing one of the trends: Talal Asad, William Connolly, and Dipesh Chakrabarty (though Rosi Braidotti and Judith Butler are also mentioned, as representatives of neo-vitalism and antihistoricism, respectively). While these theoretical developments go some way in critiquing the problematic linkages between secular epistemology and political arrangements, McLennan argues that they are each riddled with inconsistencies. Rather than staking out an antisecular position, these perspectives remain within secularism, contributing to the "secularization of secularism."
Islamic feminism
by Jake AlterIs secular feminism feasible in the Middle East and throughout the Muslim-majority nations of the world? Isobel Coleman, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that it cannot subsist on its own and that it must be allied with a form of Islamic feminism. In her most recent book, Paradise Beneath Her Feet: How Women are Transforming the Middle East, she argues that we are already witnessing the emergence of many progressive social movements within the Islamic world.
After the postsecular
by John D. BoyInside Higher Ed interviews Anthony Paul Smith and Daniel Whistler, the editors of the recently-published volume After the Postsecular and the Postmodern: New Essays in Continental Philosophy of Religion. They highlight the experimental aspects of newer work in the philosophy of religion, which often means revisiting philosophers from the past two centuries and reading them anew in the wake of Deleuze.