Sightings Articles
Public Education as Cultural Battleground
Attacks on public schools cannot be extricated today or historically from the use of religion as a unifying source of grievance and a particular vision of the nation fueled by an intense fear about cultural change....
March 16, 2023
Oedipus Then and Again … And Again
Pasolini’s Edipo Re reminds us of the boldness at the heart of humanistic learning: the conviction that the texts we decide to study should matter not just for us but for anyone. ...
March 9, 2023
Banning Books; Banning Brains
Neglect of commitments to education has profound social and political implications....
March 2, 2023
What’s So Special about the Asbury Revivals?
Even moments that seem most sacred, amid revival, have the potential to reinscribe the racially and politically profane....
February 23, 2023
He Gets Us? The Religious-Political Machine Behind the Surprising Super Bowl Ad
A 2023 Super Bowl ad campaign offers a new twist on the longstanding Evangelical effort to employ the tools of mass media....
February 16, 2023
Should We Watch Videos of Racialized Police Violence?
If we choose to watch depictions of brutality, we must do so keenly aware of the moral costs, benefits, and risks. ...
February 9, 2023
Lies, Damned Lies, and George Santos
Dismissing Santos' lies endangers truth, accountability, and democracy....
January 27, 2023
Freedom, Tradition, and Precarity at Hamline University
It’s not either/or at Hamline; it’s both/and....
January 19, 2023
Martin Luther King Jr. and the Unfinished Work of Nonviolence
More than ever, Martin Luther King Jr.'s insistent critiques of the insidious and progressive nature of violence are relevant to our contemporary moment....
January 12, 2023
Papal Fallibility
Commentary prompted by the recent death of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI unsurprisingly indexes the usual binaries of sensationalized speculation. ...