Reinhold Niebuhr’s The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness: A Vindication of Democracy and a Critique of Its Traditional Defense offers a still relevant perspective on the idealistic and cynical tendencies in US democracy. By Bradley Shingleton
Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead and Donovan X. Ramsey’s When Crack Was King: A People’s History of a Misunderstood Era offer powerful narratives in the context of communities beset by addiction epidemics. By Mara Willard
A Q&A with Francis X. Clooney, S.J., about his memoir Hindu and Catholic, Priest and Scholar: A Love Story. By Wendy McDowell
A selected reading list from Janet Gyatso’s course.
Jeffrey J. Kripal’s The Superhumanities: Historical Precedents, Moral Objections, New Realities calls for a “postcritical” study of religion that embraces more expansive anthropologies, ontologies, and epistemologies. By Charles M. Stang
A fresh round of reactionary groups are appropriating Friedrich Nietzsche to promote virulent new strains of the “superhuman.” By Nicholas E. Low
In How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2023), crisis and expediency justify violence at the expense of democratic processes. By Russell C. Powell
A Q&A with Mark D. Jordan on his new book, Queer Callings: Untimely Notes on Names and Desires. By Faye Bodley-Dangelo
A Q&A with Matthew Ichihashi Potts on his latest book, Forgiveness: An Alternative Account. By Suzie Greco
Recent publications on plant consciousness invite us to rethink our entanglements with plant life and our understanding of ourselves among other species. By Natalia Schwien Scott
The melodramatic aspects of Thomas Hardy’s novels lend themselves to an examination of the ordinary uncertainty of life—the landscape of Michael Jackson’s Coincidences: Synchronicity, Verisimilitude, and Storytelling. By Maria Cecilia Holt
The thematic presence of ecological spiritualities in artworks found at four art exhibitions. By Daniela Cordovil
Three recent books offer helpful frameworks for considering temperament and conversion in experiences of “oneness with nature.” By Shane Baker
We need to approach earth-mourning as a necessary spiritual practice that reckons with the disorienting power of grief and the potential for meaningful change. By Dorothy Dean
A selected reading list from Dan McKanan’s course.
The Harvard Natural History Museum exhibition Next of Kin: Seeing Extinction through the Artist’s Lens used a series of design elements to create a space for mourning and discovery. By Christina Seely
In Blood Theology: Seeing Red in Body- and God-Talk, Eugene F. Rogers, Jr. exposes the toxic allure of blood imagery in Christian art, literature, and practices. By Mark D. Jordan
Mormons continue to be depicted in popular culture as victims, criminals, or disaffected. By Jaxon Washburn
Austin Reed’s antebellum memoir The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict subverts notions of incarceration as spiritually regenerative. By Klaus C. Yoder
A selected reading list from Terrence L. Johnson’s course “Racial Liberalism and the Ethics of Law and Justice.”
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