An interview with the author of a new book that takes a critical look at the biblical tale of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar and sons, claiming that this story at the core of anxiety between religions isn’t exactly as it seems.
Is Easter drained of meaning if we acknowledge its borrowed practices and mixed origins? Is there a limit to how porous the boundaries between traditions should become?
In this fifth installment of Mark Dery’s cultural critique-cum-“nonfiction novella” about a born-again teen’s transcendent encounter with Ziggy Stardust in the 1970s, our hero Accepts Bowie as His Personal Savior. Delving deep into Bowie’s religious cosmology, we encounter Tibetan Buddhism, Nietzchean existentialism, Crowleyite magick, dimestore occultism, Kabbalistic mysticism, and — mirabile dictu! — Christianity.
On any given day, Christianity is invoked to justify pacifism, violent uprising, both opposition and support for government health care, even support and opposition to genres of music. Do we have to reevaluate our conceptions of ‘what Christians believe’ in the same way we’ve had to do it for Hindus, Native Americans, and others?
Mark McGwire gives thanks to “the man upstairs” as he confesses his steroid use, Tiger Woods is publicly urged to find Jesus—but that’s just the tip of the iceberg, or the football, as the case may be, when it comes to the link between sports and evangelical Christianity.
Rioting continues in Malaysia this week as Muslims fight for the exclusive right to the word “Allah.” But is the name of God a name or a noun? And who stands to gain politically from this unrest?