Sightings Articles
Steve Jobs and the Cult of Apple by Benjamin E. Zeller
Steve Jobs, legendary co-founder of Apple (né Apple Computer) died this month at the age of 56. Immediately a series of memorial shrines sprung up at Apple Stores around the world. Images of such shrines—and that is certainly what they are—reveal per...
October 20, 2011
Catholic Social Teaching by Martin E. Marty
Maureen Dowd wrote an almost innocuous column in the New York Times in which she noted, or argued, that "American bishops have been inconsistent in preaching their values." Any reader who is up on the teachings of the company of bishops should not be...
October 17, 2011
Economics, Ethics, and Bodies by Kevin Boyd
For much of the past week the Chicago media has devoted a significant amount of attention to a policy dispute unfolding at the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. In short, the Anatomical Gift Association recently approached the Chief Medical Exam...
October 13, 2011
A Lutheran School by Martin E. Marty
Back in the middle of the twentieth century, when I lived and worked too briefly in Washington, D.C., a photographer friend sneaked me in to look on as he took formal pictures of dignitaries. I decided that the Supreme Court bench was the place to be...
October 10, 2011
Eschatology and Community Gardens by Colin Bossen
As the economy stagnates and concern about sustainable agriculture grows community gardens are on the increase across the United States. In many places congregations are starting them as sites for building community, creating a more ecologically sust...
October 6, 2011
Machine Gun Preacher by Martin E. Marty
Preachers, pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams number in the hundreds of thousands in the United States. They minister at the borders between what get tabbed "sacred" and "secular" realms, and as such cannot go unnoticed in public media. Some critics...
October 3, 2011
Theologians on Science and Reductionism
How well do theologians and philosophers understand modern science to discuss its theological and ethical implications effectively with scientists? Recently, theologian Theodore Peters claimed that "the moral stance of the scientist is not built into...
September 29, 2011
Papal Headlines by Martin E. Marty
Random headlines from daily newspapers which reached our door last Wednesday to Friday: "Pope Ventures Into Land of Luther, and Criticism," "A Papal Homecoming to a Combative Germany: Benedict Faces Calls for Change," "Pope to Visit Germany Amid Turm...
September 26, 2011
Correcting the American Corrections System with Justice, Mercy, and Wisdom by David Cooper and Ben Romer
"Justice, justice you must pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that Adonai, your God, is giving you." Deuteronomy 16:20 begins with the word "tsedek," which can also be translated as "righteousness." Righteousness and justice are moral va...
September 22, 2011
Mormons Now by Martin E. Marty
The late superstar economist Milton Friedman once delivered himself of a world-weary judgment by reference to the late economist John Maynard Keynes, that "we"—Americans?—"are all Keynesians now." We weren't, and we aren't, and who are "we" anyhow? B...