Sightings Articles
Non-negotiables — Martin E. Marty
Long-time subscribers know that Monday Sightings does not "do" U.S. Presidents or presidential candidates, but this twilight moment after an election and before an inauguration provides me with another category, "President-Elect," which today's colum...
January 5, 2009
On Trust — Martin E. Marty
For the next fortnight the University of Chicago and the Martin Marty Center close down; so, while I rarely visit either of them except electronically, I'll close down, to return in 2009. This end-of-year and holiday-greeting issue differs from the ...
December 22, 2008
The Season of Generosity — Spencer Dew and Jeremy Biles
In a December 16th column in the New York Times, science writer John Tierney turned to the religious tradition of the potlatch, the Kwakiutl Indian practice of ceremonial giving, with the aim of addressing our own economic "hard times." "Now that we...
December 18, 2008
The Mimetic Principle — Martin E. Marty
"The mimetic principle," most developed by René Girard, today captures the attention of psychologists, literary critics, war-and-peace makers, and experts in many disciplines. It builds on the desires and behavior of humans who see something they and...
December 15, 2008
Navigating the Waters of Interfaith Activity — Matthew Weiner and Matthew Dunbar
When liberal religious groups work together, it is assured that they agree on one thing: proselytizing is against the rules. The history of Christian evangelism has led to extreme sensitivity on this issue, especially amongst Jews, Buddhists, and Hi...
December 11, 2008
Catholic Creativity — Martin E. Marty
With Catholics, Catholicism, Roman Catholics, the Church, and the Catholic bloc having played ill-defined and indeterminate roles in the November election, the one-fourth of the American population that they make up is ripe for assessment. A brillia...
December 8, 2008
God and Man at Yale
The Commons at Yale University looked like a cross between Hogwarts and Medina. Over five hundred students, staff, and faculty had gathered for a university-wide iftar, the meal where Muslims break their dawn-to-dusk fast during the month of Ramadan...
December 4, 2008
Opinions on the Financial Crisis — Martin E. Marty
Last week we sighted post-election themes in the conservative religious magazine World. This week, we do the same in a liberal opinion journal, the doughty and durable Sojourners (December). Its focus is less on the aftermath of the election and more...
December 1, 2008
Politics and Inerrancy — Martin E. Marty
"From a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God," the biweekly glossy World(November 15/22) asks at almost issue-length what went wrong with the Republicans in the recent elections. To the editors' credit, they do not spend mu...