Point / Counterpoint: A Debate about Islamophobia, Christophobia, and Religious Freedom This week, we publish another example of “Point / Counterpoint” discussions on the Blog. Klemens Ludwig starts with his take on Islamophobia and Christophobia; Rachel Woodlock then responds to his claims from her point of view. Point: Islamophobia? Christophobia? Read more
Do Better than Barmen: “Say Our Names” By Anna Mercedes Shortly after 9/11, 2001, I was in graduate school studying theology just outside of New York, and much of my theological analysis was turned toward “empire.” The imperial might of America’s political and military power had me raising my theological Read more
Lost in the Present By John Thatamanil The climate crisis, the COVID pandemic, the global rise of authoritarianism—these are just the handful of quandaries human communities must confront in our time. But how? What resources do we have to help us through life’s overwhelming hurly burly? Life is too complicated Read more
Elephants, Taxes, and Where We Live By Marcia Pally Last week, we had a torrent of news about Donald Trump’s taxes—profits, losses, and massive tax avoidance. This was just about the time I was looking at the book Circling the Elephant, and it turns out that one has quite a Read more
Emotion for Change: An Interview with Sara Michieletto Sara Michieletto is an Italian violinist who has performed worldwide, including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Orchestra. She has collaborated with highly acclaimed conductors such as Muti, Maazel, Masur, Pretre, Gardiner, and Chung. Since 1998 she has played the Read more
Embracing the Magicality of Science By Kocku von Stuckrad A few weeks ago, Renny Thomas argued on this blog that “rituals and prayers are very much part of the public imagination of science in India.” Many readers from Europe and North America may have the impression that this observation differs Read more
Religious Rituals and Scientific Laboratories: The Case of India By Renny Thomas Science and Religion are often perceived as mutually exclusive, but historical and anthropological scholarship shows that there exist different forms of receptions. What is sometimes called the ‘conflict thesis of science and religion’ certainly has its limitations to Read more
Counterpoint Turns Two—Looking Back and Looking Forward By Whitney A. Bauman & Kocku von Stuckrad Exactly two years ago, on 25 August 2018, we launched Counterpoint: Navigating Knowledge with an event in Berlin that addressed “Contrapuntal Responses to Culture Wars, New Nationalisms, and the Challenges of the Anthropocene.” After Counterpoint’s Read more
Re-storying Metaphors as Decolonization By Daniel Bryan In their seminal article, “Decolonization is not a metaphor,” Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang speak to many of us who read this blog, calling for activist scholars, educators, and organizers to reconsider adopting the words “decolonizing” and “decolonization” in their vital work Read more
Mucho, Mucho, Mucho Amor, For the Planet By Whitney A. Bauman I have been thinking about planetary erotics lately. By that I mean the love of bodies, internal and external to us. As David Abrams suggests, biology and the biosphere are all only possible because of that most basic attraction Read more