After years of relative quiet, rabbis working for Israel’s Ministry of Religion have reopened an old controversy by claiming that Karaites are not truly Jewish, reports The Economist (May 18). For many centuries Karaites have lived a separate life: this ancient current of Judaism does not accept the Talmud (oral law) or rabbinical traditions, and its followers only recognize the Torah (Hebrew Bible)—thus they have sometimes been dubbed as […]

The teaching on sexuality in the Orthodox Jewish community inIsrael has undergone a dramatic shift since the 1990s, writes Orit Avishai (Fordham University) in an article published in the newest issue of Fieldwork in Religion (November 2012). While not unique to Orthodox Jews, sexual anxieties tend to be exacerbated in a community where modesty is an imperative, girls are not supposed to touch boys and the female […]

There is increasing division between Orthodox and progressive Jews in Poland over the matter of who will represent the Jewish community in the country, according to the Jerusalem Report (February 25). The magazine reports that there is an “internecine battle for power and prestige—and the vast control of funds” between the Polish Orthodox community represented […]

The shift from “bricks and mortar” campuses to virtual classrooms is being actively pursued by a large segment of American theological seminaries, reports the Christian Century (Feb. 20). As with radio and TV broadcasting, it seems that evangelical seminaries are the most heavily invested in the new learning technology, which could range from a few courses being offered online to new distance learning programs aiming […]

While much remains to be seen regarding the leadership style and priorities of Pope Francis, the themes of the challenge of secularization and evangelization figure prominently in many analyses and forecasts of the new papacy. The shifting distribution of world Catholicism formed the context of most of the coverage of Pope Francis’s election. The facts are familiar: two-thirds of Catholics used to live in Europe […]

Israel is experiencing a “secularization below the radar,” according to Guy Ben-Porat, a political scientist at Ben-Gurion University at a March seminar at Columbia University in New York attended by RW. Ben-Porat, whose presentation was based on his new book, Between State and Synagogue (Cambridge University Press), said that even though Israel may not separate […]

In comparison with other European countries, Poland still exhibits a high level of religious beliefs and attendance at religious services; but while criticism of the Catholic Church was associated with Communism in the 1990s, it is no longer the case with the younger generation. This is especially true for those linked to the new left, […]

Several articles in the latest issue of the French journal of future studies Futuribles (March) deal with the social and political impact of religions; three of them focus on the European situation. Pierre Bréchon (Institute for Political Studies, Grenoble) notes how Europe remains strongly divided among different historical forms of Christianity. Despite obvious changes, there […]