Mormonism is entering the academic mainstream as several universities inaugurate Mormon studies programs. Just as there has been the creation and growth of endowed Jewish and Catholic studies at secular universities in the past two decades, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is endowing chairs in the academic study of Mormonism, reports Baptists […]

The rise of public intellectuals in religion and the financial challenges of technology are changing the nature of scholarly religious publishing, according to Publishers Weekly’s Religion Update (November 20). Academic publishers’ traditionally issuing monographs on specialty subjects are facing decreasing library budgets and less demand for class texts (due to professors using reading packets) as well as […]

“One of the most important new facts about Christian theology is the sudden popularity of the theologians and pastors, monks and bishops, martyrs and missionaries, who first fashioned a Christian culture nearly two thousand years ago,” writes R.R. Reno in First Things magazine (November). The renewed interest in the early church fathers can be seen in the […]

There has been a Pagan explosion since 1990, increasing more than thirty-eight-fold in the USA between 1990 and 2001, said James Roger Lewis (University of Wisconsin) during the Contemporary Pagan Studies Consultation at the November conference of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Washington. While statistics should be handled with caution and are not […]

After the Christian right suffers some major defeat it has not been uncommon for analysts and commentators to pronounce the imminent demise of the movement. It could be the widespread realization of the staying power and adaptability of the Christian right that this did not happen after the recent elections where Democrats turned the tide […]

A recent issue of Panchjanya, a weekly published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has suggested that Dalits (i.e. outcastes) and other members of the less respected classes in Indian society should be trained and appointed as head priests at major temples around the country, according to the Times of India (October 30). Hindu tradition reserves priestly functions […]

There are contradictory trends in Chinese policy toward religion, according to China specialist Roman Malek: On the one hand, China would like to integrate mainline religions as contributions to the building of a harmonious society; on the other hand, there are attempts to revitalize the Communist ideology at a time of economic development, Malek notes […]

Changes in funding, as well as a new assertiveness of Roman Catholicism and the growth of Pentecostalism ,are posing serious challenges to the international ecumenism of the World Council of Churches (WCC). TheHarvard Divinity Bulletin (Autumn) reports that traditional donors to the WCC who “have been willing to do their development work through WCC are increasingly […]

A movement of gentiles observing some aspects of Jewish law and teachings is becoming more organized, thanks to the growing support of some Jewish groups. Moment magazine (October) reports that the Noahide movement is made up largely of ex-Christians (and usually ex-evangelicals and ex-fundamentalists) who adopt the Jewish concept that before the Ten Commandments, God ordained “seven […]

Recent denominational divisions and talk of the rise of the “global South” in Christianity suggest that the two continents are virtually worlds apart when it comes to Christian belief and practice. Philip Jenkins, whose books have popularized this scenario, is of the view that Africa in particular will eclipse Western Christian influence. In a recent […]