Martin Marty: Sightings
Billy Graham Taught Christians New Ways
By Martin E. Marty — September 30, 2013
Billy Graham was feted in a conference at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College in Illinois, September 26-28. Instead of following my usual Sightings approach, which depends on the press and the internet, I’ll lapse back into my old journalistic mode and report, using my own ample notes and impressions.
Pope Francis Broadens the Christian Agenda
By Martin E. Marty — September 23, 2013
Originally posted on Sightings at the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School. On Pope Francis, Stephen Pope (no relation) of Boston College spoke wisely. According to many analysts, the Pope seemed, in his interview published September 19, 2013, to chide U.S. Catholic bishops for having focused too much on cultural or […]
Syria’s Christians: A Population at Risk
By Martin E. Marty — September 16, 2013
“Buridan’s Ass” comes to mind as citizens ponder what to think and what to favor in the Syrian civil war. Look it up: this is the dilemma of Buridan’s ass (named after philosopher John Buridan). Poised equidistantly between two equally attractive bales of hay, the animal had no reason to choose one bale over the other. Unable to decide, he starved.
Moving Forward from the Folly of a Perpetual “Walk of Faith”
By Martin E. Marty — September 9, 2013
Those of us who have crawled through cathedrals in Europe or visited cemeteries prepared for “perpetual” use in our young nation, have gotten to practice nurturing awareness of the past and, without trashing it, “moving forward.” Rather than use this occasion to heap one more time—there have been heaps of heapings against the Schuller endeavor and legacy—I want to signal a way to look at the past and “move forward."
On Labor and Workers: The Silence of the Religions
By Martin E. Marty — September 2, 2013
iven the choice of dramatic, horrendous, headline-grabbing topics (e.g. Syria), to return to the scene with the topic of “Labor,” especially as in “Organized Labor,” is to risk inducing yawns. Read the religious press, as we must and do, and you will also find that “Labor” is almost a non-topic there.
Legacy of the Protestant Mainline Reconsidered
By Martin E. Marty — July 29, 2013
During Sightings’ annual “August Hiatus,” I (figuratively) load up my beach bag with books and other reading materials. I provide some suggestions at the end of this column should you be doing the same.
MainlineDecline, Decline-Talk, and Decline-ism
By Martin E. Marty — July 22, 2013
Notice: millions of citizens are not “bowling alone,” or being “spiritual” on their own, in splendid entrepreneurial isolation. We observe them instead in tens of thousands of parishes and temples where, in difficult places and against cultural odds, old faithful and new faithful people pray, give for, and through, “institutional religion,” serve their God, serve others, and, yes, are interesting.
Black Churches Divided Over Same-Sex Marriage
By Martin E. Marty — July 15, 2013
Rather than speculate about the future, I’d simply say that Eric Metaxas has alerted the media and everyone else, of whatever race or denomination, to keep their eyes on the black churches.
Epic? Epochal? The Furor Over Same-Sex Marriage
By Martin E. Marty — July 1, 2013
Those who (this columnist included) are at home with ironic and paradoxical views of history cannot see the victories or defeats of partisans this month as topics to be addressed simply. They will need sorting as the years pass. But some instant reactions were helpful.
Evangelical Ministry to Gays and Lesbians Admits It Caused Harm
By Martin E. Marty — June 24, 2013
Since the simple declaration that homosexual activity is a sin used to be the first and last word, for Christians who made it basic to their understanding of faith, a declaration like Alan Chambers’ is the latest shakeup in the ranks of the formerly completely self-assured evangelical leaders.
Demographic Changes Impact Religious Institutions
By Martin E. Marty — June 17, 2013
The heirs of the dwindling white majority can complain or explain, or they can accept the changes and help re-conceive religious commitment.
Interfaith Marriages: Religious Tolerance or Religious Dilution?
By Martin E. Marty — June 10, 2013
In the free ways of citizens in this free society the most “up close” problem area is interfaith marriage, which hits at the most intimate and demanding relations, under one’s roof or over one’s fence or on the other branches of a family tree.
Father Andrew Greeley: A Priest of Many Worlds
By Martin E. Marty — June 3, 2013
Something had to hold together this man of contradictions. If we did not catch onto it, we were not paying attention: he was, first and in the middle and last, a Catholic priest who did not give up on his church, or on the people—the “public” who surrounded him in a society called secular.
Evangelicals Bring Christ to the Ivy League
By Martin E. Marty — May 20, 2013
The Ivy League Christian Observer arrives quarterly, beckoning for attention, which Sightings provides.
Spotlight on the Religious Left
By Martin E. Marty — May 13, 2013
Almost always Sightings takes off from the sighting of a particular recent news event. This week, for fun and games, we’ll make an exception and address a generic theme: the religious left.
