Sightings Articles
Georgetown Pluralism — Martin E. Marty
Where are the Muslim moderates, abroad and at home? Let's leave the problem of the hidden Muslim moderate in Egypt or Indonesia or, for that matter, Iraq for another day. Complaints are regularly made that spokespersons for moderates in our domestic ...
May 27, 2004
Catholic Elections — Martin E. Marty
Sightings likes to be current. Most frequently we comment on what we find in our scope of the week's news coverage. This week's news, while the basis for today's column, has also prompted us to revisit coverage of an older story -- 44 years old in fa...
May 17, 2004
Hyper- and Havoc in Hindu Studies — Martin E. Marty
On December 27, 1986 Arthur Hertzberg, Yvonne Haddad, and I were asked by the American Historical Association (AHA) to lead a plenary session on militant fundamentalisms in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. That was the first time I dealt with the su...
May 10, 2004
Save Your Breath — Martin E. Marty
"We have written previously to you voicing our concerns … about protecting God's gift of air .... We now request an opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss our concerns." This request ranks at the top in the annals of "Exercises in Futil...
May 3, 2004
Behind the Count — Martin E. Marty
This week: a little essay on statistics and surveys. When I joined the Christian Century staff forty-eight years ago, the editors used to joke about how, when they were bored or the Letters to the Editor file was slim, they could evoke responses from...
April 26, 2004
Compassion and Generation Next — Martin E. Marty
It cannot be lost on us academics, theologians, and other scholars that when it comes to "town meeting time" on campuses, the audiences are made up predominantly of older people. When I visit a campus, I meet a goodly number of alert and concerned st...
April 19, 2004
Muslim Youth Today —Martin E. Marty
Not in recent memory have "Christianity" and "Judaism" received more media attention than this year in Holy Week and during Passover. Magazine cover stories, television programs, films, and newspapers gave attention to Jesus, to Jewish meanings and p...
April 12, 2004
Wilken's Sneak Peek — Martin E. Marty
No, I am not guilty of plagiarism or piracy, but I may be guilty of promotion: while the gist and meat of this column come directly from someone else's, Sightings will give full credit. So, no plagiarism. Promotion? Guilty. The column is "The ABC ...
April 5, 2004
Prophetic Learning —Martin E. Marty
Sightings sees so many things that we who write it are not easily surprised by what we read. Surprised I was, however, by the penultimate paragraph and punch line in a David Brooks op-ed (New York Times, March 22), which seemed to be leading to a pit...
March 29, 2004
Emergent — Martin E. Marty
"This is not your usual kind of venue, is it?" "Are you going to write it up?" Questions about "it" by some participants move me to report on the Emergent Convention and National Pastors Convention in San Diego, sponsored by Youth Specialties and ...