Sightings Articles
The Cardinal and His Popes
The tension between Cardinal Burke and Pope Francis offers a window into the state of Roman Catholicism in the world and American religion....
December 13, 2023
Smart Sightings | Mary Magdalene's Invitation to Redemption
This depiction of the Crucifixion is special in that its iconography focuses on St. Mary Magdalene, presenting her as a role model for the Christ-loving, repentant sinner seeking forgiveness—and finding it....
December 6, 2023
Emptying the Arsenals of Memory
The gap between contemporary and ancient conceptions of memory lie at the heart of the challenge in understanding Israeli and Jewish perspectives on October 7 and its aftermath....
November 30, 2023
Structural Violence in the Headlines
Focusing only on direct violence obscures other, potentially more harmful, social injustices....
November 21, 2023
Smart Sightings | Embodying Religion in Rodin's "The Cathedral"
Time and again, my camera has taught me that religion is deeply enmeshed with the body and everyday lived experience. Rodin’s piece resonates similarly....
November 16, 2023
James Baldwin and the Cost of Community
Denying that there is persistent brokenness in the world, we have concluded that everything wrong comes from structures that rest on ideologies we oppose. ...
November 9, 2023
Jews, Semites, and Antisemitism
We need a conceptual approach that recognizes the multifaceted nature of identity and groups....
November 3, 2023
A Demon for Everyone: Religion in the Latest "Exorcist"
The ecumenical, even interfaith, nature of the film reflects the America of 2023....
October 26, 2023
“The Higher Law”: Tracing the Color Lines with Charles Chesnutt
Charles Chesnutt’s novel "The Marrow of Tradition" indexes the ongoing persistence of racism and the recourse to a color-blind “higher law” based putatively on ability rather than race....
October 19, 2023
Donald Trump and the Exceptions of American Evangelicalism
Evangelicals see themselves as exceptional in both respects: as not typical of American society as it currently is governed by loathsome elites, and as surpassing that society in virtue. ...