Catch up on part one and part two of our interview with Professor Balmer. A conversation between Paul Courtright of Emory University and Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College on his new book, Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter. Balmer talks about how Carter’s religious formation in the American evangelical tradition informed his early character and later political ambitions that took him to the White House and a continuing career in public service. Balmer attributes much of Carter’s moral vision, focus on human rights as a political agenda, and commitment to mediating conflict to Carter’s religious self-understanding. Randall Balmer is a major interpreter of the evangelical […]
An Interview with Randall Balmer, Part Three: Professor Balmer’s Book, Redeemer
An Interview with Randall Balmer, Part Two: The Rise of the Religious Right and Jimmy Carter in the 1970s
This is part two of our conversation with Randall Balmer. Watch part one here. A conversation between Paul Courtright of Emory University and Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College on his new book, Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter. Balmer talks about how Carter’s religious formation in the American evangelical tradition informed his early character and later political ambitions that took him to the White House and a continuing career in public service. Balmer attributes much of Carter’s moral vision, focus on human rights as a political agenda, and commitment to mediating conflict to Carter’s religious self-understanding. Randall Balmer is a major interpreter of the evangelical thread […]
An Interview with Randall Balmer, Part One: Evangelicalism and Jimmy Carter
A conversation between Paul Courtright of Emory University and Randall Balmer of Dartmouth College on his new book, Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter. Balmer talks about how Carter’s religious formation in the American evangelical tradition informed his early character and later political ambitions that took him to the White House and a continuing career in public service. Balmer attributes much of Carter’s moral vision, focus on human rights as a political agenda, and commitment to mediating conflict to Carter’s religious self-understanding. Randall Balmer is a major interpreter of the evangelical thread in the tapestry of American religious history and […]
Truth from the Trenches and Religions
I. Ludwig Wittgenstein responded to the outbreak of World War I by joining the Austrian Army as an artillery corpsman. Twenty years later, he abandoned teaching at Cambridge University to enlist as a hospital orderly, while his colleagues (some of them) toiled at desks in British Intelligence. In his twenties, he was true to his Austrian roots and later he was true to his recently grafted British roots. He had a primitive, non-intellectualized hold on some truth he should be true to, something that was real to which he should witness. He lacked any articulate basis for regarding that witness […]
Secularity and Secularism, Islam and Muslims: A Conversation between Daniel Martin Varisco and Hasan Azad
Hasan Azad: Do Muslims belong in the West? This is a question that is being asked with increasing force in Euro-America. Central to the way in which this discourse is being constructed are discussions about secularism. I’m interested in exploring notions of secularity and secularism and how such ideas—as they are articulated within a Euro-American context—are imagined in opposition to Islam and to Muslims. In other words, I wonder to what extent Islam and Muslims are politicized within Euro-American discourse as a means of expressing notions of secularism and secularity. Daniel Martin Varisco: The term “secular” has been expanded beyond […]
An Interview with Jeffrey Kripal, Part Three: The Future of Religious Studies
In conversation with Paul Courtright of Emory University, Jeffrey Kripal, of Rice University, discusses his new textbook, Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms. Professor Kripal’s latest book is a departure from the traditional “world religions” textbook. He frames the adventure of the comparative study of religion as a kind of passage from conventional categories of religion, through an analysis of key themes and modes of reading texts and histories, to a reflexive re-reading in which the students rediscover themselves in relation to religion at the conclusion of the textbook and the course in which Professor Kripal has used it. Our conversation ranges across a number of issues in […]
Religion and Rasslin’
Dan Mathewson brings us a short video documenting the story of George South and his blending of evangelical Chrsitianity and professional wrestling. Read Dan’s recent article about South as well as his earlier piece on religious representations in wrestling.
Eusebius and the Global War on Christians
Jason Bruner & Ryan Linde Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world. This is a bold—and, perhaps to some, counterintuitive—statement, made most substantively by the renowned Catholic journalist John Allen Jr. in his recent book, The Global War on Christians. But Allen is by no means alone in making the claim. From the halls of the U.S. Congress to European human rights organizations, Christians are described as a group under attack. Given the truly horrific stories (warning: graphic content) that occasionally accompany such claims, it is hard to deny that certain Christians around the globe are facing severe […]
An Interview with Jeffrey Kripal, Part Two: Challenging Binaries
This is part two of our three-part conversation with Jeffrey Kripal. Watch part one here. In conversation with Paul Courtright of Emory University, Jeffrey Kripal, of Rice University, discusses his new textbook, Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms. Professor Kripal’s latest book is a departure from the traditional ‘world religions’ textbook. He frames the adventure of the comparative study of religion as a kind of passage from conventional categories of religion, through an analysis of key themes and modes of reading texts and histories, to a reflexive re-reading in which the students rediscover themselves in relation to religion at the conclusion of the textbook, and the course […]
An Interview with Jeffrey Kripal, Part One: Comparing Religions
In conversation with Paul Courtright of Emory University, Jeffrey Kripal, of Rice University, discusses his new textbook, Comparing Religions: Coming to Terms. Professor Kripal’s latest book is a departure from the traditional ‘world religions’ textbook. He frames the adventure of the comparative study of religion as a kind of passage from conventional categories of religion, through an analysis of key themes and modes of reading texts and histories, to a reflexive re-reading in which the students rediscover themselves in relation to religion at the conclusion of the textbook, and the course in which Professor Kripal has used it. Our conversation ranges across a number […]