Doctrine & Practice
NEWS STORY: Religion at heart of Allen Ginsberg’s life, poetry
By Chris Smith — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service NEW YORK _ When Allen Ginsberg chanted”Hare Krishna”during a classic”Firing Line”TV episode, host William F. Buckley simply sat back and looked amused. When Ginsberg chanted monotonous Buddhist prayers during his popular poetry readings across the country, some audience members assumed it was just part of an outrageous acts that also […]
NEWS FEATURE: Retreats _ creating spiritual oases for women
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ All summer long, self-help author Jennifer Louden has been the expert-du-jour on the daytime TV talk-show circuit, explaining why women periodically need to withdraw from the world, the company of men and the demands of their children to seek solitude and spiritual renewal. She tries not to sound […]
NEWS FEATURE: Bringing prayer to the killing sites of a city
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service INDIANAPOLIS _ Even as other cities watch their crime rates fall, Indianapolis finds itself in the middle of what is likely to be its second record year of homicides. So Don Howard has little reason to believe prayer will stop the violence. But still, Howard prays. And he is not […]
NEWS FEATURE: Little magazine that inspired millions becomes a book
By Anne Oconnor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Richard Block, co-founder of H&R Block, swears by it. So do actors Michael York, Doris Day and Robert Stack. Fannie Flagg, author of”Fried Green Tomatoes,”is such a fan that she had one of her characters reading it in her book. It’s Daily Word, the magazine of inspiration that […]
Excerpts from Daily Word magazine
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service On Freedom: Day 208 I am a free and whole person. I am free from anything that would hold me back from expressing the light and love of God within me! I am free with the freedom of the spirit. Thank You, God! Life-affirming statements and uplifting conversations are composed […]
NEWS FEATURE: Quest to become Orthodox rabbi puts woman on the cutting edge
By Elaine Fletcher — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service JERUSALEM _ If the topic of the 1983 Canadian Bible Contest had been Genesis instead of the Book of Numbers, Devora Shonfeld might never have aspired to become a rabbi _ an Orthodox rabbi. When Shonfeld, a Toronto native, won the Bible contest at age 10, it changed her life. […]
RNS Daily Digest
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service Vatican official calls Buddhism”erotic spirituality” (RNS) The chief custodian of Roman Catholic doctrine has ridiculed the rising appeal of Buddhist practices among Christians, saying the church must do all it can to combat the challenge. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said […]
NEWS FEATURE: Exhibit opens window on medieval prayer and piety
By Adelle M. Banks — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service BALTIMORE _ People have always prayed, but each human era brings its own distinct art and style to the practice. A compelling exhibit at the Walters Art Gallery _”Images of Devotion: Personal Piety in Medieval Manuscripts and Ivories,”which closes Oct. 12 _ offers a particular style of medieval piety, graphically […]
NEWS PROFILE: Process theologian John Cobb: making retirement its own process
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service CLAREMONT, Calif. _ John B. Cobb Jr. _ the world’s leading apologist of process theology and arguably one of the most influential American theologians of the second half of the century _ retired from teaching seven years ago. But typical of Cobb, he’s turned his retirement into something of a […]
COMMENTARY: Intramural squabbles among Jews are as old as Moses
By James Rudin — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Rabbi A. James Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) UNDATED _ Recently, a small group of Orthodox rabbis in the United States asserted that they alone are the true representatives of the Jewish religion. They singled out Conservative and Reform Jews for special contempt, […]
COMMENTARY: Needed: A meaningful debate about God
By James Rudin — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee). UNDATED _ A new organization,”The Committee for the Defense of a Responsible God,”needs to be established as soon as possible to preserve God’s integrity. There’s not a moment to lose because a mindless dumbing-down of God is […]
COMMENTARY: Women rabbis infuse new spirituality into Judaism
By James Rudin — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) UNDATED _ It has been 25 years since Sally Priesand broke the gender barrier by becoming the first woman rabbi. Historically, only men could become rabbis, but the entry of women into that closed fraternity has permanently […]
COMMENTARY: A Muslim view of Judge Moore’s courtroom
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Salam Al-Maryati is director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Ambereen Khan is director of the council’s Washington office) UNDATED _ This week, 2 million Muslim pilgrims from around the world embarked on a pilgrimage _ the Hajj _ to Mecca to pay homage to Abraham, the pioneer of […]
COMMENTARY: The Death of a Prison Guard: A Chaplain’s View
By RNS Blog Editor — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Samuel K. Atchison is an ordained minister and has worked as a policy analyst and social worker to the homeless. He currently is a prison chaplain in Trenton, N.J.) UNDATED _ I have an eerie feeling in my bones. It is a sense of uncertainty and anticipation, such as one […]
COMMENTARY: Letter to a mother who lost her son to cancer
By Tom Ehrich — January 1, 1997
c. 1997 Religion News Service (Tom Ehrich is an Episcopal priest in Winston-Salem, N.C., an author and former Wall Street Journal reporter. E-mail him at journey(at)interpath.com.) UNDATED _ A woman lost a son to cancer. Now she asks questions. Why did he die when others live? Where was God? What happened to her prayers.”I shake […]
