Sightings Articles
Who Is a Catholic? — Martin E. Marty
“Who is Pope Francis?” was the understandable and constant question during this pope’s first year, now past. “Who is a Catholic?” is the understandable and urgent question in his second year, now begun. Of course, the two questions are symbiotic. Wha...
March 17, 2014
Religio-Secular — Martin E. Marty
“Our Secular Future: The redefinition of religious liberty in American society” is a promising and threatening reflection by Richard R. Reno in the Jesuit-based weekly America (February 24, 2014). It turns out that the article deals more with the sub...
March 10, 2014
Son of God on Film — Martin E. Marty
This weekend was time for movies and for talk about them. The Academy Awards, as readers of Sightings may have heard, were awarded. They may also have noticed that "Son of God," a film about Jesus, was released in 3,000 theaters. Reviewers are not fr...
March 3, 2014
Niebuhrian Irony and Drones — Martin E. Marty
“IRONY. THE OPPOSITE OF WRINKLY” reads the message on a sweatshirt wife Harriet gave me, perhaps in reaction to my probable overuse of a topic. The word “irony” appears in the title of at least one book, one article, one chapter, one column, and one ...
February 24, 2014
God as Sister, God and Sister — Martin E. Marty
Put “God” in a headline and we can’t help sighting it. Neil Steinberg, columnist in theChicago Sun-Times (Feb. 13, 2014) did so: "'Who's God but us?' Sister tells it like it is." My wife, Harriet, the monitor of syntax and scorner of clichés who re...
February 17, 2014
Pipe Organs as a Niche Market — Martin E. Marty
The American Organist Magazine delights us each month as it serves the several thousands of us who, I am told, have to be content with inhabiting a “niche market.” After having paid respects to the pipe-organ and organist niche in the paragraphs ahea...
February 10, 2014
Colbert and Catechesis — Martin E. Marty
“The devil should not have all the best tunes.” We baroque-loving church folk like to quote that, when justifying our devotion to jazz or, though not in my case, rock music. Think today of Christian jazz or “Christian rock.” Others who monitor “...
February 3, 2014
Calvinism and Conflict — Martin E. Marty
Last Saturday was the day set aside for the annual festival commemorating “The Conversion of St. Paul.” Did anyone notice? Still, Paul is “all over the place” in Christianity. Almost everything about him evokes or signals conflict. Conflict # 1:...
January 27, 2014
Barbour — Martin E. Marty
Ian Barbour, Who Found a Balance between Faith and Science, Dies at 90. So read hisNew York Times obituary, January 12, 2014, Today's Sightings, however, is not itself an obituary of Barbour; it only draws on one. The Times headline suggests a re...
January 20, 2014
Guns — Martin E. Marty
Impressed and depressed by the week-long media coverage of “Bridgegate” in Governor Christie’s New Jersey, I searched for a religious angle. What is wrong with New Jersey that televangelists, pundits, and sages covering it did not religiocify or sp...