https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to judaism en https://religiondispatches.org/2023/01/12/enjoy-kosher-collard-greens-understand-hebrew-israelites-have-something-say-rest-jewish At the 1995 Source Awards, Outkast’s Andre3000, delivered his now iconic shot across the bow in which he informed the hip-hop world that “The South Got Something to Say.” Moving from the margins of the culture to its center, the… Thu, 12 Jan 2023 03:23:05 EST Andre E. Key, Walter Isaac, Tamar Manasseh 6b5aa547-4ec5-467a-97ad-f91c5013867e https://religiondispatches.org/2022/06/24/citing-jewish-law-florida-synagogue-challenges-abortion-ban-heres-problem-religious Days before the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey , a Florida synagogue filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s abortion ban on the grounds that it violates Jews’ religious freedom. Halakhah, or Jewish law, the… Fri, 24 Jun 2022 12:34:36 EDT Rebecca Epstein-Levi 411e5ad3-73b6-47f9-a11d-e464586d55ac https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/12/whos-really-jewish-sefardi-floridian-ashkenazi-californian-or-new-york-jew-choice Jared Armstrong was raised Jewish in the United States and wants nothing more than to become an Israeli citizen and pursue his career as a professional basketball player for one of Israel’s leading teams. But Israeli authorities have challenged the… Thu, 12 May 2022 03:19:49 EDT Benjamin Spratt, Joshua Stanton 4aef8e56-5d77-4208-af94-d224ce7443da https://religiondispatches.org/2022/04/22/chicago-synagogue-excoriated-shift-non-anti-zionism-maybe-problem-isnt-anti-zionism Progressive synagogue Tzedek Chicago, founded in 2015 and led by Rabbi Brant Rosen, recently made an announcement that elicited strong reactions in much of the Jewish press and beyond. Opting to change their identity from “non-Zionist” to “anti-Zionist,” they released… Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:05:20 EDT Shaul Magid 5e8d2af4-129d-457d-a106-4686a8cde13d https://religiondispatches.org/2022/04/04/honoring-and-renewing-dr-kings-other-more-challenging-dream-55-years-later Fifty-four years ago—on April 4, 1968—Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. Exactly one year earlier—on April 4, 1967—Dr. King created a huge furor by coming out strongly against the Vietnam War before a packed crowd at New York’s… Mon, 04 Apr 2022 08:38:44 EDT Peter Laarman 2c3b994f-07d8-492b-969f-fea6e4a80cbb https://religiondispatches.org/2022/02/20/leaked-freedom-convoy-donor-comments-clearly-demonstrate-christian-nationalist-presence As the “ freedom convoy” slowly but surely winds down —with police forces and the RCMP moving in to cordon off the center of the city, arresting leaders of the insurrection and preventing new people from joining—journalists and scholars are… Sun, 20 Feb 2022 12:45:35 EST Thomas Lecaque 3c69b094-7a5c-448c-a433-c0aabd7f52fc https://religiondispatches.org/2022/02/17/freedom-convoy-inspired-biblical-account-divine-massacre-welcome-jericho-march When a church announces what’s called a Jericho March (or a Jericho Walk), you might picture congregants praying, walking around a building, trumpets blasting and an odd gospel song. You might forget, however, what comes next. From Joshua 6:20-21: When… Thu, 17 Feb 2022 06:10:40 EST Thomas Lecaque 90fd100f-40cc-412a-a36f-d308db6bafd5 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/01/31/do-stormy-daniels-beliefs-paranormal-make-her-unfit-testify-lawsuit-against-her-former Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who rose to prominence as a result of her former relationship with Donald Trump, is testifying against her former lawyer, Michael Avenatti, who’s on trial for allegedly stealing $300,000 from Daniels (the money came… Mon, 31 Jan 2022 05:04:29 EST Daniel Wise 4b0ad4d3-bed4-4b52-a98f-7d302ab73843 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/12/17/do-make-trouble-complex-world-radical-jewish-revenge-theologian-meir-kahane Montclair High School recently found itself embroiled in a controversy of its own making when it decided to honor the late Rabbi Meir Kahane as part of its Jewish Heritage Month communication, a choice baffling to Jews and Gentiles alike… Fri, 17 Dec 2021 10:01:28 EST Shane Burley 5bec204b-bddf-460c-a26a-5ae81f42b00e https://religiondispatches.org/2021/12/08/vows-piece-times-shows-how-doctrinaire-christian-celibacy-has-become-compared-its A recent article in the Style section of the New York Times was a notable departure from the usual fare of wedding and anniversary announcements. Titled ‘Far From Galilee, a Joseph-and-Mary Sort of Marriage,’ (or ‘One Chaste Marriage, Four Kids… Wed, 08 Dec 2021 04:44:09 EST Joseph Amar 8ca726dd-b3aa-4c25-8d2c-656d70173450 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/20/savoring-haterade-why-jews-love-dara-horns-people-love-dead-jews I am a Jew. And I am alive. As a scholar of Judaism I spend my days reading, writing, thinking about, and teaching about dead Jews. So I guess I love dead Jews. But I’m not the “people” Dara Horn… Wed, 20 Oct 2021 04:14:01 EDT Shaul Magid cd7170bb-486d-46ac-acd3-eff86e6ccaec https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/19/pope-francis-concern-jews-genuine-until-doctrine-abolished-hell-have-trouble-convincing The hot water into which Pope Francis has put himself regarding his Jewish friends continues to boil. In a recent public audience at the Vatican, Francis stated that the Torah “does not give life” (that is, a share in God’s… Tue, 19 Oct 2021 01:24:23 EDT Paul Knitter 743ce35c-2e75-414c-827f-064c075d0065 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/10/13/americas-jesus-problem-making-progressive-christians-complicit-christian-supremacy As we reflect on the implications of the Trump years there have been several books exploring the convergence of white evangelical Christianity, right-wing nationalism, and Trumpism as it morphed into a virulent form white Christian nationalism. These books offer critiques… Wed, 13 Oct 2021 02:09:34 EDT A. E. Brooks-Key b44b316d-ea25-407a-b65d-2ddc80d6c7a9 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/30/pittsburgh-paradox-city-haunted-god-and-steel Willa Cather is so associated with the Nebraska prairie’s expanse, depicted in novels like O Pioneers! and My Ántonia, that it’s disorienting to imagine her living in hilly industrial Pittsburgh at the turn of the century, and yet for a… Thu, 30 Sep 2021 03:33:32 EDT Ed Simon 45926d60-1d5e-48c3-98c2-8af45fa8a05a https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/17/why-nobody-should-be-surprised-pope-francis-made-problematic-comments-about-judaism-and The tenure of Pope Francis has been marked by his support for a host of causes more closely associated with the political left, including climate change , greater regulation of capitalism , and the fate of refugees attempting to reach… Fri, 17 Sep 2021 01:07:40 EDT Ilan Benattar 7a368192-3c64-4b1e-89ee-3716fe027877 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/13/latest-diatribe-francis-and-latin-mass-times-launders-history-and-troubling-elements Church councils are never simple things, neither when they’re happening nor in their aftermath. Although often called to confront troubling questions or iron out controversies, they haven’t always been successful in accomplishing those tasks over the past nearly 1,700 years… Fri, 13 Aug 2021 01:39:38 EDT Matthew Gabriele cde509e7-fa50-438c-bd6d-f3efc082c0e0 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/08/04/was-alexander-hamilton-jewish-does-it-matter For all the ink spilled on Alexander Hamilton by historians, and for all the buzz generated by the Hamilton musical, there’s a hidden history to this iconic founder that never made its way to the page or the stage: Hamilton… Wed, 04 Aug 2021 05:09:15 EDT Andrew Porwancher 8288a1b2-d155-4b1d-8774-5604dc650c39 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/07/27/gen-zs-religious-affiliation-stats-are-confusing-only-when-viewed-christian-centric Recently, Atlantic writer Derek Thompson tweeted an image of two graphs of religious survey data. The first showed the number of people who say they “believe in God without a doubt,” broken down by generation: Gen Z numbers drop off… Tue, 27 Jul 2021 12:26:01 EDT Brook Wilensky-Lanford 2d4d774a-09f1-40ba-8edb-69f095123b91 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/11/transition-looms-jewish-studies-mired-controversy What is the state of Jewish Studies in America? This question has been raised anew in light of the series of events in the past few months surrounding the case of Hebrew Union College sociologist and admitted sexual harasser Steven… Tue, 11 May 2021 02:07:03 EDT Shaul Magid 3b4a5c1d-d2f8-4724-a0ea-047ec97076ad https://religiondispatches.org/2021/05/05/decolonizing-jewish-studies-part-ii-response-backlash Recently, we identified Jewish Studies scholarship that is sexist, racist, and cisheteronormative, arguing that neoliberal ideologies and metrics reinforce and promote such research. We invited collective reimagining of a more just and creative field. Thus, we’re bemused by a letter… Wed, 05 May 2021 04:32:47 EDT Gilah Kletenik, Rafael Rachel Neis 990d8c41-7307-4750-9bdd-1a052a4bb162 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/29/breaking-biblical-womanhood-problem-hot-new-book-taking-aim-subjugation-women As the Mississippi sun drenched my parents’ stately living room, I strained with anticipation from my bedroom on the second floor to overhear the conversation. A man—a Southern Baptist seminary student on his way to be a pastor—was declaring his… Thu, 29 Apr 2021 01:21:39 EDT Jill Hicks-Keeton fed6521a-9514-4f5a-bc32-f60577a64a5e https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/19/whats-matter-jewish-studies-sexism-harassment-and-neoliberalism-starters When our colleagues in Jewish Studies courageously publicized the systematic and decades-long sexual harassment and assault perpetrated by sociologist Steven M. Cohen, among the many difficult conversations it precipitated was one about the values underlying his work on what’s known… Mon, 19 Apr 2021 03:16:22 EDT Gilah Kletenik, Rafael Rachel Neis 3b35514b-c224-4975-9bf5-8fe94d51633a https://religiondispatches.org/2021/04/15/battle-antisemitism-definitions-actually-proxy-war-criticism-israel Last month, a global consortium of leading scholars released the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA), the product of a year-long labor to produce a new working definition of antisemitism that builds upon the widely-cited, but nearly as widely critiqued and… Thu, 15 Apr 2021 02:28:50 EDT Joshua Shanes 30b5cf4a-ebfb-4494-8fca-476a204bb8e6 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/03/30/teflon-antichrist-how-did-president-who-fit-role-so-well-avoid-label One of the more unexpected developments of Donald Trump’s presidency was his metamorphosis into an evangelical hero. American Christians didn’t just like his policies, they venerated him as a near supernatural being — the last hope against Antichrist. Such a… Tue, 30 Mar 2021 03:06:44 EDT Jay Rubenstein b0fdcdfa-742c-4c1c-90be-01ef5f97bf3a https://religiondispatches.org/2021/03/24/what-passover-taught-me-about-being-black As Passover approaches this weekend I often reminisce about how, as a young child, the highlight of my Easter weekend wasn’t watching the Greatest Story Ever Told , The Robe , or other classic Easter movies. For me, it was… Wed, 24 Mar 2021 03:43:56 EDT A. E. Brooks-Key 649ca0b7-02b6-4107-9dcc-d6e5103e5b43