01: The New New Testament is a novel attempt by liberal Protestant scholars to integrate extra-canonical texts, such as the Gospel of Mary, into the traditional biblical text. This expanded version of the Christian Bible is the brain child of United Church of Christ pastor and biblical scholar Hal Taussig, along with the work of a […]
Findings & Footnotes: February 2014
01: The new book Religion, Politics and Polarization (Rowman & Littlefield, $28), by William D’Antonio, Steven A. Tuch and Josiah R. Baker, examines the relationship between religious affiliation and voting behavior of American politicians over the last four decades. The authors seek to test the hypothesis that there is a culture war in American society […]
Iraq’s quietist Shiite influence challenging Iran’s religious establishment
Iraq’s emergence as a center of Shiite pilgrimage since 2003, especially among Iranian Muslims, is presenting a “serious challenge to the legitimacy of Iran’s state-sponsored religious establishment,” according to the Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2014). Nearly two million Shiite pilgrims passed from Iran to Iraq between March 2009 and February 2010—comparable to if not greater […]
Current Research: February 2014
01: A new study finds that divorce is higher among religiously conservative Protestants and even drives up divorce rates for other people living around them. University of Texas at Austin professor Jennifer Glass sought to explain why divorce rates would be higher in religious states like Arkansas and Alabama — which boast the second and […]
On/File: January 2014
Sweaty Sheep is one of a wave of new congregations that embrace physical exercise in their ministries. The Louisville, Ky.-based church seeks to compete with running clubs and other exercise programs that may distract people from Sunday worship. While exercise programs have become widespread in congregations in recent years, Sweaty Sheep sees running and the […]
Findings & Footnotes: January 2014
01: Nancy Ammerman’s new book Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes (Oxford, 29.95) employs innovative methods to make the argument that the everyday dimensions of religion have not been adequately appreciated in the study of American religion. Ammerman and her research team not only interviewed 95 Americans on their spiritual and religious lives but asked them to keep […]
Ukraine crisis finds Orthodox churches divided between east and west
The pluralistic and divided religious situation in Ukraine has led its various churches to stand with the people protesting the government’s current crisis. Ukraine’s dilemma over whether to choose Russia or the European Union as its main economic partner has shaken the country, leading to massive protests in the streets. In a blog for American […]
Current Research: January 2014
01: Businesses based in more religious areas are less likely to experience stock price crashes resulting from not divulging bad financial news, according to a study by Jeffrey Callen of the University of Toronto and Xiaohua Fang of Georgia State University. The study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Financial and […]
Evangelicals rethinking alcohol prohibition
Evangelical attitudes toward alcohol have become considerably more tolerant in recent years, judging by the trend of evangelical educational institutions lifting their long-time bans on drinking, reports Christianity Today magazine (December). Last summer, Moody Bible Institute, a leading center for training evangelical leaders, lifted its restriction on drinking for its employees, following similar moves by […]
Copts at home and in US at odds on Islam, religious freedom
The growing numbers of Coptic Orthodox Christians in the U.S. and the ongoing pressures against their faith in Egypt has strengthened a brand of activism stressing anti-Islamic polemics, according to Yvonne Haddad and Joshua Donovan writing in the journal Studies in World Christianity (No. 3, 2013). They write that “Coptic organizations in diaspora see themselves […]
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