Sightings Articles

The Return of Franz Bibfeldt
Bibfeldt’s return invites us to remember that there is an essential place for the occasional fit of laughter in even the most scholarly house....
April 6, 2022

Chaos and Endurance
One way that the written word has evolved with the advent of online media is the addition of “Keywords” at the end or beginning of an essay. (In fact, you’ll find them at the bottom of this column!) They can help summarize the main points of an essay...
September 9, 2019

A Life So Forcefully Lived
Editor’s Note: This month we are celebrating both the twentieth anniversary of the Martin Marty Center and the ninetieth birthday of Martin Marty. Marty would say that our focus ought to be on the Center, not on him, and for the most part it is. Howe...
February 22, 2018

How the Rabbi Ties His Shoes
Editor’s Note: This month we are celebrating both the twentieth anniversary of the Martin Marty Center and the ninetieth birthday of Martin Marty. Marty would say that our focus ought to be on the Center, not on him, and for the most part it is. Howe...
February 15, 2018

Marty, Teacher
Editor’s Note: This month we are celebrating both the twentieth anniversary of the Martin Marty Center and the ninetieth birthday of Martin Marty. Marty would say that our focus ought to be on the Center, not on him, and for the most part it is. Howe...
February 8, 2018

The Great Notice-er
Editor’s Note: This month we are celebrating both the twentieth anniversary of the Martin Marty Center and the ninetieth birthday of Martin Marty. Marty would say that our focus ought to be on the Center, not on him, and for the most part it is. Howe...
February 5, 2018

A Glacial Sense of Time
Editor’s Note: This month we are celebrating both the twentieth anniversary of the Martin Marty Center and the ninetieth birthday of Martin Marty. Marty would say that our focus ought to be on the Center, not on him, and for the most part it is. Howe...
February 1, 2018

Curing and Healing
“It is strange that healing is absent from medical discourse today. Cure, resolution, recovery, and rehabilitation retain semantic currency; you can find these words throughout the medical textbooks and professional health literature.” But, conti...
March 30, 2015

Catholic Hispanics Defect
“Firing Up America” could refer to any number of incendiary subjects, and the cover illustration on The Economist (March 14) doesn’t help much in sorting: it shows an American flag whose stripes are strung-together red peppers. The subtitle alerts re...
March 23, 2015

Sustaining the Momentum III -- Martin E. Marty
The Jubilee of the Selma marches of 1965 attracts veterans of those marches who are now labeled "foot soldiers" in the Civil Rights experiences in the small Alabama city. (See my 2013 Sightings, “Selma: Sustaining the Momentum Still,” in “Sources” to...