The current issue of Feminist Review is dedicated to the theme of religion and spirituality. In their opening editorial, Lyn Thomas and Avtar Brah reflect on the historic absence of religion as a topic of investigation in the journal's pages.
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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.
events
Lives of Great Religious Books
by Jessica PolebaumNext Thursday, March, 24, NYU's Institute for Public Knowledge and the SSRC's Program on Religion and the Public Sphere will host the launch of Princeton University Press' new book series, "The Lives of Great Religious Books."
March 18, 2011
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Our Values
by Charles GelmanOur Values is a new blog published by the Michigan Institute for Social Research and featuring the writing of sociologist Wayne Baker. Its purpose is "to show that civil discussion is possible about the values and ethics that shape our lives—even when stark conflicts arise over core issues." Each week, Baker discusses a different theme in-depth, with a special emphasis placed on reader feedback.
March 21, 2011
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Exploring the postsecular city
by John D. BoyThe New York Times reports on Tony Carnes' remarkable efforts to map every place of worship in New York City over the course of two years.
March 21, 2011
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The post-secular: A different account
by Vincent P. PecoraJohn Boy, in a post on March 15th, titled "What we talk about when we talk about the postsecular," provides a brisk empirical overview of his key word's appearance in recent discourse. But it is not at all what I talk about when I talk about the post-secular, and in many ways I think Boy's account is rather wrong-headed. Boy takes his cue from a lecture delivered by Jürgen Habermas in 2001, where Habermas proposes to bridge the gap posited by Ernst Bloch's notion of non-synchronicity---which is simply an uncritical early version of Johannes Fabian's "denial of coevalness," in his Time and the Other---through "democratically enlightened common sense." However, what this "common sense" means for Habermas---"a translation of religious positions" into (for example) "Kant's postmetaphysical ethics"---is in no sense post-secular! It is in fact the essence of the secularization thesis itself, in one of its most prominent historical guises . . . .
March 22, 2011
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All surface, no substance?
by Charles GelmanGarry Wills does not like Dreyfus and Kelly's All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age.
March 23, 2011
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Roy reviewed
by Justin ReynoldsDaniel Mahoney, author of The Conservative Foundations of the Liberal Order, reviewed Olivier Roy's Holy Ignorance in yesterday's Wall Street Journal.
March 23, 2011
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Stefan Collini on offense
by Justin ReynoldsIn The New Republic, Isaac Chotiner reviews Stefan Collini's latest book, which asks what it means to give offense and to feel offended. It also explores how "offensive" speech ought to be dealt with in the public sphere---a recurring issue whenever liberals criticize, or try to figure out how to respond to criticism of, religious beliefs and practices.
March 24, 2011
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New tensions in Egypt
by Charles GelmanMichael Slackman has a fairly extensive article in The New York Times on the Muslim Brotherhood's apparent consolidation of power in post-revolutionary Egypt, where, he writes, "religion has emerged as a powerful political force, following an uprising that was based on secular ideals. The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group once banned by the state, is at the forefront, transformed into a tacit partner with the military government that many fear will thwart fundamental changes."
March 25, 2011
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Go-ahead for classroom crucifixes in Europe
by Justin ReynoldsThe European Court of Human Rights has ruled that crucifixes are acceptable in public school classrooms. Reversing an earlier decision, the court found no evidence that "the display of such a symbol on classroom walls might have an influence on pupils.” All 47 countries of the Council of Europe are obliged to obey the decision.
March 27, 2011