Sightings Articles
Controlling the Words — James L. Evans
October 8, 2009 One of the most popular biblical translations among evangelical conservatives is the New International Version. Introduced in 1978, and immediately endorsed by Billy Graham, the NIV has sold over 300 million copies. As of 2011 the ...
October 8, 2009
Evangelicaldom — Martin E. Marty
Take one day, say Friday, October 2, in the life of what we should start calling “Evangelicaldom.” One-fourth to one-third of Americans consider themselves “Evangelicals.” Many are exemplary citizens and, let us say, exemplary Christians. Somewher...
October 5, 2009
Allen Grossman's Tears — Michael Robbins
Several of the greatest poets in the English tradition from the Renaissance onward have sought to replace God with the human imagination, a quest whose vehicle most of these poets have, unsurprisingly, envisioned as poetry itself. But George Santaya...
October 1, 2009
Walking a Fine Line in U.S. Catholic — Martin E. Marty
“Sightings” usually draws on secular news and opinion sources as part of its mission to deal with religion in American public life. However, religious periodicals and blogs deal as much with secular life as they do with ecclesiastical themes. For y...
September 28, 2009
Navigating Religion News — Martin E. Marty
Tomorrow’s (September 22) Christian Century cover features “Navigating the News.” Assuming that many readers of Sightings read that magazine and wishing the rest of you did, I don’t often reach to it for sightings of religious news and features. This...
September 21, 2009
Ethical Wills in Inter-Religious Dialogue and Research — Joshua M. Z. Stanton
“Have you ever had a life-altering experience or an experience that changed your life?” I was stuck on question eight and still had fourteen to go. Seated across from me was a junior at Wellesley College, with a friendly gaze and a tone indicative of...
September 17, 2009
The Curious Case of Galileo Galilei (in which he does not go to jail)
Last week, the Niels Stensen Foundation, a Jesuit study center in Florence, Italy, convened a conference entitled “The Galileo Affair” to show how recent research “might alleviate the ‘tension and conflict’ still clouding the relationship betwee...
September 15, 2009
Self-loathing — Martin E. Marty
While the staff took time away from the Center, this writer took a day off in Nebraska, after a year which included time spent in Prague, Helsinki, and Paris. In none of these four places did my dimming journalistic eye and ear detect massive and sui...
September 14, 2009
Foundational Texts, Interpretation, and Playing the Game: The Religious Underpinnings of the Sotomayor Hearings — Ingrid Lilly
Following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Mike Seidman, law professor at Georgetown, argued that the proceedings revealed only the "official version" of the American judicial system:...
July 30, 2009
Giving — Martin E. Marty
Giving USA Foundation last month reported on "giving, U.S.A." under a headline, "Giving in worst economic climate since Great Depression exceeds $300 billion for second year in a row," but "a 2 percent drop in current dollars over 2007," as well as "...