Junco Politics By Richard Bohannon I came upon my first dark-eyed juncos on an early Spring afternoon in 2012, new binoculars and a tiny book of Minnesota birds in my back pocket. A small flock had sheltered within a patch of evergreen bushes, one of only four species I saw Read more
Anything Goes… What Trumpism and the Covid-19 Pandemic Can Teach Us About Climate Crisis By Oliver Krüger These days, we Europeans are quick to diagnose a post-factual age in light of recent events in the United States. In the European media, the chaotic Trump presidency and his broad support from Read more
Wounds and Lies that Bind: The Need to Believe By Marcia Pally It’s two weeks since the seditious riot at the U.S. capitol. It’s two months of Donald Trump’s refusal to concede an election whose vote-count was validated by Republican election officials and over 60 courts—including twice by the Supreme 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
Pandemic Pandemonium By Catherine Keller Photo: Le Pandemonium, by John Martin, 1841, Le Louvre Pandemic and pandemonium—was it mere alliteration insistently linking those two words in my head? They seem disconnected: the pandemic has spread eerie silence and ordered separation far more than the pandemonium of wild and noisy Read more
COVID-19 and Environmental Racism in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” By Justine M. Bakker The first time I saw Highway Gothic, a 2017 installation by artists Ellen Gallagher and Edgar Cleijne, I was struck by the use of color. Consisting of two films, a soundtrack, and a series of cyanotype banners printed Read more
Spiritual Interruption By Anna Mercedes This time of year I observe the Christian season of Lent, traditionally a period of penitence and reflection. This year, I’m observing it as a season of interruption. Lent begins each year with “Ash Wednesday,” a day when you might see Christians around with ashen Read more
Making Senses: Poetic Knowledge of Nature in Science, Art, and Shamanic Ritual by Kocku von Stuckrad Download a PDF Version of this essay (6 MB) Abstract The five senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching are regarded in European and North American tradition as the central channels through which human Read more