Feb
22nd
The author of Religious Literacy, Stephen Prothero has a very interesting article in USA Today this morning (”A Buddhist moment in America”). In it, he takes a look at Tiger Woods confession from the perspective of religious literacy. It is well worth reading.
Nonetheless, we expect, sometimes unconsciously, for things to proceed largely on Christian terms. We expect our presidents to be Christians and to quote from the Bible. And when they fall short of the glory of God, we expect them to call their shortcomings sins and to confess them not only to us, but also to Jesus. Part of living in a multireligious society, though, is learning multiple religious languages. In a country where most citizens cannot name the first book of the Bible, we obviously need more Christian literacy. But to make sense of the furiously religious world in which we live, we need Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist literacy too. Read full article at USA Today…
Feb
21st
Menachem Wecker, a writer who focuses on arts and faith, interviewed me for his blog, Iconia, at the Houston Chronicle’s Houston Belief section (”Doubting the Manicheans: religion historian Brandon G. Withrow on a St.Thomas at the Museum of FIne Arts, Houston”). It went up this morning. Iconia is a great blog and well worth adding to your reader or your Facebook rss feed. Any thoughts on the article, and the ideas I propose, please feel free to leave comments there. I’m hoping it can make for some interesting conversation.
It is this last usage of the doubting Thomas story that may play into its role in the 13th century. Medieval Christianity experienced a revival of Manichean ideas in the form of the Paulicans and especially the Cathars, leading to a prominent crusade by the church in the 13th-century called the Albigensian Crusade. It could be that the Doubting Thomas motif offers the same sort of rebuttal for 13th-century Christians that it did for Augustine. Read the whole article here.
To any remaining readers, sorry my blog has been bland lately, but this has been one busy school year. The seminary is keeping me really busy, but I hope to pick up steam shortly.
Dec
15th
Inside Higher Ed wants to start a book club. Read about it here.
Dec
4th
The term just recently ended at Winebrenner and UF and I just spent day and night grading papers. Grading is one of my most dreaded points of the term. It is when I, the guy who tries cultivating a relationship with students throughout the term, have to sometimes become the bad guy. It is also the point at which I get little sleep and start pulling out my hair. What I find is a menagerie of papers and not all are equal. Every classroom has a range of students whose skills fall widely across the spectrum. Some are really good and I can tell the student put a lot of time into the process. However, there are plenty of papers that I have to step away from before giving a final grade, just to make sure that I’m grading fairly. This is particularly true of really bad papers.
I’ve thought about writing a post on what I want my students to know about grading, but never have. Fortunately, someone else did and it’s spot on (HT: @jrdkirk).
I do not pull punches when I am reading papers. I try not to be hurtful, but I have no interest in lying to you. Everyone’s work could be improved. Part of my job is pointing out where your paper could be better. Continue reading at Mary Shore’s blog, Balancing Pose.
Nov
19th
Let the Great World Spin
Colum McCann
Random House (2009)
368 Pages
Amazon.com
Powell’s Books
From the Guardian: “Colum McCann won the fiction prize at the National Book awards in New York last night for his novel Let the Great World Spin, an allegorical story inspired by the events of 9/11 and set around Philippe Petit’s tightrope walk between the twin towers in 1974…He was cited by judges for achieving “a gravity-defying feat”. “From 10 ordinary lives he crafts an indelibly hallucinatory portrait of a decaying New York City, and offers through his generosity of spirit and lyrical gifts an ecstatic vision of the human courage required to stay aloft above the ever-yawning abyss,” they said.” Continue reading…
Withrow, Brandon. Katherine Parr: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Reformation Queen. (2009).
