Sightings Articles

black and white image of large crowd at session of first parliament of world's religions

Parliament of World's Religions | religious pluralism | theology of brotherhood | ecumenism

Connection and Celebration at the World's Parliament of Religions

At the height of racism in the US and Western colonialism, the Parliament was one attempt to mitigate human division and the sectarian passions nurtured and released by religious certainty....

May 25, 2023
Gazing upward at a grey church and red cross against a blue sky with scattered clouds

Evangelicalism | Protestantism | ecumenism

Protestants and American National Destiny

In the latter half of the 20th century, conservative evangelical churches flourished by providing a safe harbor for white Americans who wanted to be counted as Christian while avoiding challenges that mainline leaders insisted must be faced....

December 8, 2022

ecumenism | Paul Ramsey | Public Church | Social Gospel | Stanley Hauerwas | United Methodists

Meanwhile, United Methodists...

Editor's note: Sightings will be taking a short break for the Thanksgiving holiday. We'll be back Thursday, December 1st! Give us Sightings folks a headline with the phrase “Public Church” in it, and we are poised to follow through. The Center fro...

November 21, 2016

Lutherans | Catholics | justification | ecumenism

Justification

Last week, while the sports-loving public watched timed Olympic events, viewers relearned the values of timing, measuring, and scorekeeping. Some races were decided by 1/100th of a second margins. The substantially smaller, microscopically observable...

August 22, 2016

Fundamentalism Project | R. Scott Appleby | Brexit | European Union | elites | dissenters | Harold Isaacs | Idols of the Tribe | immigration | Pope Francis | Armenia | Turkey | ecumenism | interfaith movements

Convulsive Ingatherings

The text for our mid-year, mid-decade Sightings has been with us from the beginnings of The Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Science...

June 27, 2016

Hans Küng | Pope Francis | Catholic Church | First Vatican Council | ecumenism | Holy Spirit | ecclesiology | magisterial system

Infallibility: Time To Find Another Term for This Doctrine?

This is not the first time that Küng has sought to encourage open and frank discussion of the doctrine of papal infallibility....

June 2, 2016

American church | Philip J. Hefner | Sidney E. Mead | Paul Tillich | Dietrich Bonhoeffer | religionless Christianity | James M. Gustafson | Joseph Haroutunian | Leigh R. Jordahl | ecumenism | interfaith | secularity

Futures Projected

Let’s step back this week from the overdoses of religion-in-public-life evidences which are candidates for Sightings these seasons and look for some perspective by using the rear-view mirror provided by historians, theologians, and ethicists. Recentl...

March 14, 2016