Spiritual, Sexual—and Religious?
Queer spiritual traditions reverse dominant assumptions about sex, understanding it as both an ethical challenge and a site of revelation. By Mark D. Jordan
Featured
The Planet: An Emergent Matter of Spiritual Concern?
In this exploration of planetary thinking and deep time, the author argues for humans to cultivate an earth ethic that includes a spirit of reverence. By Dipesh Chakrabarty
‘Namaste All Day’
Spiritual appropriations and commodifications are always in negotiation with power. By Andrea R. Jain
A Design for Living
Three ministry innovators draw from religious, secular, and spiritual sources to develop programs addressing the existential crisis in the U.S. By Paul Massari
Lives of Unbelief
Portraits of nonbelievers from five different countries. By Aubrey Wade
Facing Death Without Religion
Nonreligious elders construct meaning making narratives from science and other sources, and these frameworks provide coherence and agency. By Christel Manning
Dialogue
Will Religious Progressives and Nones Forge Political Alliances?
By Quardricos Driskell
Nuns and Nones Meet on the Edge
The pull that some Nones feel toward contemplative, social action has led to an unlikely collaboration with nuns, described as an “apprenticeship in prophetic community.” By Katie Gordon
Jewish Leaders Try Nontraditional Engagement
The 2013 Pew study on Jewish Americans prompted some leaders to take a new approach in engaging intermarried and young Jews disinterested in the traditional religious aspects of Judaism. By Shira Hanau
In Review
Art
Paths to Abstraction
Exploring the link between spiritual liberation and abstract artistic expression in paintings of Hilma af Klint, Hilla Rebay, and Vicci Sperry. By Ann Braude
Syllabus
Apocalyptic Grief, Radical Joy
A selected list of readings, films, and art from the course, “Apocalyptic Grief, Radical Joy,” cotaught by Terry Tempest Williams and Matthew L. Potts
Shelf Life
The Rise of ‘Spiritual but Not Religious’ Is a Story of Hope
Since the 2016 election, teaching Andrew Delbanco’s The Real American Dream and Catherine L. Albanese’s A Republic of Mind and Spirit has become more relevant and constructive, as this religious studies professor has come to view the rise of the spiritual but not religious as a story of hope. By Darryl Caterine
Books
A Physicist on ‘Absolutes’ and ‘Relatives’
A Q&A with MIT physicist Alan Lightman on his book Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine. By Robert Israel
poetry
Two Poems
Answer
Preparation for the End
By Erik Norbie
Not available online.
Two Poems
Judy Blume at Prayer
Nothing Winged
By Jory Mickelson
Perspective
Filling in the Contours of ‘Unbelievers’
The authors in this issue do not lament or apologize for these shifts; they dive deeper into why they are happening, where the unaffiliated are gathering, and how they are making meaning. By Wendy McDowell
From the archive
Winter 2008
On the Question of Relevance
Why twelfth-century India and Haitian voudou matter. By Anne Monius
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