Ansley Roan
Ansley Roan is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Ansley Roan
It’s lights out for Kathie Lee Gifford’s ‘Scandalous’ Broadway show
By Ansley Roan — December 6, 2012
NEW YORK (RNS) In the end, even Kathie Lee Gifford couldn’t save the Broadway musical about a woman who saved souls. Gifford's Broadway play, "Scandalous: The Life and Times of Aimee Semple McPherson'' will close Dec. 9, a little more than three weeks after its opening. By Ansley Roan.
‘Scandalous’ evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson gets star turn on Broadway
By Ansley Roan — November 12, 2012
NEW YORK (RNS) “Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson” is the first Broadway musical about the showbiz-savvy revivalist whose ministry was rocked by scandal in the 1920s. It’s also the first Broadway show with a book and lyrics written by "Today" show co-host Kathie Lee Gifford. By Ansley Roan.
`Plucky’ Jewish leader insists on a brighter future
By Ansley Roan — December 13, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) After his first months as chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, Arnold Eisen is poised to become a leader in what was once the country’s largest Jewish movement, Conservative Judaism. Some would say he already is one. He’s been described as “plucky” _ a trait many […]
New Reform prayer book reflects changing movement
By Ansley Roan — November 9, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ Worshippers at Reform synagogues across the U.S. are beginning to hold a new prayer book, or siddur, in their hands during services. Along with a dramatically new design, worshippers will find the words of Pete Seeger, Helen Keller and Langston Hughes. It’s the first new prayer book […]
At Yom Kippur, a Simple Garment Shrouds Jews in `Holiness’
By Ansley Roan — September 13, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ When Rabbi Amy Small arrives at the Beth Hatikvah synagogue in Summit, N.J., on Sept. 21, she will not follow her usual routine because Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown. In preparation for the special services she’ll lead that night, she’ll put on a […]
Hindus Celebrate Ganesh, the God that `Everybody Likes’
By Ansley Roan — September 11, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Each morning when she wakes up in her home in Jacksonville, Fla., Davel Patel begins her day with a puja, or worship ceremony, to the Hindu deity Ganesh. This Saturday (Sept. 15), she will begin her day in exactly the same way. Then she’ll begin a one-day fast to […]
Jews Mark New Year With a Visit to Ritual Bath
By Ansley Roan — September 6, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Rabbi Daniel Liben steps into the warm waters of the Mayyim Hayyim (Living Waters) mikvah in Newton, Mass., he will pause on each of the seven steps leading into the pool to ponder the state of his soul. Each step into the tepid waters, he said, is a […]
Jews Mark New Year With a Visit to Ritual Bath
By Ansley Roan — September 6, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Rabbi Daniel Liben steps into the warm waters of the Mayyim Hayyim (Living Waters) mikvah in Newton, Mass., he will pause on each of the seven steps leading into the pool to ponder the state of his soul. Each step into the tepid waters, he said, is a […]
CNN Documentary Probes Impact of `God’s Warriors’
By Ansley Roan — August 18, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A three-part CNN documentary, which begins airing Tuesday (Aug. 21) at 9 p.m. EDT, explores the beliefs and influence of what it calls “God’s Warriors.” “Whether Muslim, Christian or Jew, millions of people view the world through a religious prism,” correspondent Christiane Amanpour says in the opening segment from […]
10 Minutes With … Amy-Jill Levine
By Ansley Roan — January 4, 2007
c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Amy-Jill Levine is a New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and a self-described “Yankee Jewish feminist.” As a child, she told her mother that she wanted to be pope. In her new book, “The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus” (HarperSanFrancisco; $24.95), […]
Conservative Jews Move to Allow Gay Ordination, Same-Sex Unions
By Ansley Roan — December 7, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ The committee that interprets religious law for the Conservative Jewish movement voted Wednesday (Dec. 6) to accept a legal opinion that allows for the ordination of gay rabbis and the blessing of same sex unions. The committee, however, also approved two other opinions that uphold the movement’s […]
Reality Show Opens the Closed-door Life of a Monastery
By Ansley Roan — November 1, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) The latest reality TV show has no snarky judges, no cash prizes and no home makeovers. Instead, it follows five men where no American reality show has gone before: into a monastery. An ex-con, a recovering alcoholic, an Iraq war veteran who lost a leg in combat, a skeptical […]
Companies Spot a Niche for Diwali Merchandise
By Ansley Roan — October 19, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Vasudha Narayanan was browsing in a Walgreens in Gainesville, Fla., last year when she saw something she’d never seen before in an American drugstore _ greeting cards for the holiday Diwali. “I was so happy,” said Narayanan, who was born in India. “It was like a piece of home […]
For Jews, Forgiveness Isn’t Always Cut and Dried
By Ansley Roan — September 27, 2006
c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Mel Gibson. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Sen. George Allen. Each has made headlines this year with public apologies _ Gibson for offending Jews, Nagin for calling the World Trade Center a “hole in the ground” and Allen for calling an Indian man “macaca.” Those apologies came in the […]
Jews to Toss Bread as They Cast Off Sins
By Ansley Roan — September 14, 2006
c. 2006 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Jews around the country will visit rivers, beaches and streams on the second full day of Rosh Hashana (Sept. 24), the Jewish New Year. Many of them will have bread in their pockets. Police will stop traffic at several intersections to allow members of Temple Israel of Greater Miami […]
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