Interfaith Inc.: Will US corporations continue to embrace dialogue as many curtail DEI efforts?

Photo via Interfaith America Magazine.

When Jacqueline Moreno got her job at a global investment firm, it was an answered prayer.  

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “Coming from my background, as the child of immigrants growing up in the poorer parts of San Diego, I thought these kinds of jobs were out of reach.  

“It’s really, truly, a miracle,” Moreno said. 

Moreno was thankful her prayers seemed to be answered with the job offer. What she did not expect was that her prayers would be welcome at work. But when she started, she joined a “Christian life” community at the firm, one of its 24 different employee resource groups (ERGs), representing an array of identities and interests among the company’s workforce.  

“Too often, when you work at big companies, you feel like you have to keep your faith in the back pocket,” Moreno said, “but through this community, it’s like every day is ‘bring your religion to work day.’”  

Moreno’s experience is becoming more common as companies and corporations come to terms with increasing religious diversity in the workplace. As Eboo Patel, Founder of Interfaith America told Religion News Service’s Kathryn Post, among major brands like Walmart and Starbucks as well as tech firms like Google and financial behemoths like Alliance Bernstein, a growing contingent of businesses are engaging questions around religious diversity and dialogue.  

The expansion seen in recent years, however, may be under threat, as the federal government’s efforts to curb Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices may soon have sweeping impacts on the private sector and threaten interfaith efforts at corporations and companies across the U.S.      

The American workplace: Ground zero for interreligious encounter 

Elaine Howard Ecklund, sociology professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas, said workplaces are one of the places Americans are most likely to encounter religious diversity, when compared to other spheres of life.  

“Our social media channels, the kinds of neighborhoods we are in, the places we shop or spend our free time; it’s easy to be with people like us in all of these places,” Ecklund said. “Workplaces are one of the last places in American society where we have the potential to meet people who are different than us, including from different religions.”  

Ecklund is Co-Author, with Wheaton College professor Denise Daniels and West Virginia University sociologist Christopher P. Scheitle, of a new book, Religion in a Changing Workplace, which shows how employees across the private sector are embracing the notion of “bringing their whole selves to work” — and many employers are encouraging them.  

The team conducted more than 15,000 surveys and 300 in-depth interviews on the subject of faith in US workplaces. It is the largest study of faith at work in the US to date.  

Though the researchers surmised that people would bring their faith to work, they were surprised by the extent to which people want to.  

Wheaton’s Daniels has been studying these dynamics for years. She said when people hear “religion at work,” they tend to think about that coworker who wants to talk about their personal faith or invite you to their house of worship. But beyond wanting to talk about faith, members of the American workforce understand their work — and callings — in terms of their faith. 

“American workers are exploring things like meaning, calling, and ethics within a faith framework, seeing their work through the meaning and purpose of their religion,” said Daniels, “which helps them engage work in a more meaningful way.”  

Ecklund and Daniels said a lot of policymakers and employers may at first be uneasy — or downright fearful — of having people talk, and share, openly about their faith in the workplace. Thier research concluded that allowing, and encouraging, employees to “bring their faith to work” does not necessarily lead to conflict, but closer relationships and diverse teams performing better, together as members have opportunities to engage their differences and share their strengths.  

To strengthen a culture of belonging in their workplace and open up new opportunities for growth, Ecklund and Daniels said leaders have to intentionally engage this facet of their workers’ identities, and do so in a civil, respectful and power-mindful way.

The Religion + Culture 2022 Reading Rundown

I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I have a ridiculous job.

I get to read books, talk to authors and creatives, and write about it all so that others can listen and learn, rage and wonder, contemplate and cause trouble.

I read things I love. Things that interest me. Things that matter. Things that I would read and write about for free (shhh, don’t tell my publishers).

Really, it’s a ridiculous vocation. A calling that I am immensely humbled to have.

One of my favorite things to do at the end of the year is look back on all the things I read, the ideas I encountered, and reflect on the people I interviewed or interacted with along the way.

This year, I read a total of 25,353 pages, including numerous news pieces, 63 journal articles, a behemoth of blogs, countless chapters, and 84 different books (including 19 works of fiction).

The following are some of the books that moved me, made me smile, or that I think matter in a world swimming with competing and contrasting ideas, viewpoints, and perspectives. They are, you could say, my Top 25 Books of 2022.

Perhaps you’ll find something that piques your interest in the list as well.

A lot of the books below featured in my research and writing over the year, but others just caught my attention (and more importantly, held it). Among them are my usual themes and interests: religion, borderlands, interreligious encounters, Berlin and Germany, spirituality, James Bond, Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, and travel (this year, to places like Italy and Scotland, Morocco and Mexico).

And so, here are my Top 25 Books of 2022, in the order I finished them throughout the year. Many of the hyperlinks connect you to reviews or other relevant works. Others take you directly to the publishers’ webpage, where available (be sure to support your local bookstore!):

• My Broken Language: A Memoir, by Quiara Alegría Hudes

• A Traveler in Italy, by H.V. Morton

• The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, by Lindsay Chervinsky

• Journeys toward Gender Equality in Islam, by Ziba Mir-Hosseini.

• Ministers of a New Medium: Broadcasting Theology in the Radio Ministries of Fulton J. Sheen and Walter A. Maier, by Kirk D. Farney

• Berlin Global, from the Humboldt Forum.

• Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and their History, by Simon Winder.

• What We Owe the Future, by William MacAskill

• Theater Unser: Wie die Passionsspiele Oberammergau den Ort verändern und die Welt bewegen, by Anne Fritsch

• The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, by Simran Jeet Singh

• Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde, by Erich Kästner

• Race and Rhyme: Rereading the New Testament, by Love Lazarus Sechrest

• Borders and Belonging, The Book of Ruth: A Story for Our Times, by Pádraig Ó Tuama, Glenn Jordan

• Religion in 50 Words: A Critical Vocabulary, by Aaron W. Hughes and Russel T. McCutcheon

• Casablanca: Colonial Myths and Architectural Adventures, by Jean-Louis Cohen and Monique Eleb

• Islamic Empires: The Cities that Shaped Civilization: From Mecca to Dubai, by Justin Marozzi

• Christianity’s American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular, by David A. Hollinger

• An Odd Cross to Bear: A Biography of Ruth Bell Graham, by Anne Blue Wills

• Berlin Alexanderplatz, by Alfred Döblin

• Peaceful Families: American Muslim Efforts against Domestic Violence, by Juliane Hammer

• Manifold Destiny: Arabs at an American Crossroads of Exceptional Rule, by John Tofik Karam

• Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland, by Francesca Sobande and layla-roxanne hill

• Undocumented Saints: The Politics of Migrating Devotions, by William A. Calvo-Quirós

• Trainspotting, by Irvine Welsh

• The 007 Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die, by Roger Moore

Let me know if you also read any of the books above, want to share your thoughts on titles you enjoyed in 2022, or if you have any book recommendations for 2023 (yes, please!).

Until then, Happy New Year friends. Here's to more good reads in the year to come.

The Theme is Religion, James Bond Religion

When you think of James Bond, you probably don’t reckon with whether or not the super spy is religious or if spirituality plays a major role in his action-filled escapades.

But if you look for it, religion is everywhere in James Bond:

• In the novel You Only Live Twice, Ian Fleming casts James Bond in the role of a savior, prophesied by Shinto priests and embodying the saintly personage of the Catholic, dragon-slaying hero St. George.

• Live and Let Die — both the book and movie — heavily feature vodou and obeah, with a 007-emblazoned, customized tarot card deck specifically designed for the film.

• There is a “priest hole” and chapel on Bond’s family Scotland estate in the movie “Skyfall” (2012).

• Bond battles with a man dressed as a Nio guardian statue in the film, “The Man with the Golden Gun” and traipses through Cairo, Egypt’s Ibn Talun mosque in “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

• In 2015’s “Spectre,” Bond replies to his love interest Dr. Madeleine Swann's question, "Why does a man choose the life of an assassin?" with, "Well, it was that or the priesthood."

The list could go on, but suffice it to say: James Bond has a long and complicated relationship with religion.

On the occasion of the 60th-anniversary of the world premiere of the first James Bond film Dr. No in 1962 (October 5, 2022), I take a look at religion in the Bond universe and consider what we might have to learn about religion — and the world-famous super spy — in the process.

Special Guest Episode at the Maydan

Podcasts are fun.

They’re even more fun when you get to do them with a valued colleague.

A couple of months ago, Wikke Jansen and I sat down to talk about my book The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean. Wikke is a visiting fellow at the Berlin University Alliance Project “Global Repertoires of Living Together (RePLITO) and received her Ph.D. in Global Studies from the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Humboldt University Berlin, where we got to know one another through the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies.

Wikke not only carefully read my work, but also asked some poignant and pointed questions about what its points might have to say to other themes in the study of global Islam and decolonization.

The result is a special guest episode at the Maydan, an online publication of Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, offering expert analysis on a wide variety of issues in the field of Islamic Studies for academic and public audiences alike, and serving as a resource hub and a platform for informed conversation, featuring original articles and visual media from diverse perspectives.

Did Muslims discover the "New World?"

Don’t you know that Muslims were the first to discover the New World?”

This is how Sheikh Youssef kicked off our conversation in Vega Alta, Puerto Rico. I was conducting research on Islam and Muslims in Puerto Rico and he wanted to make sure that I knew one thing before I went any further in my investigations. He quickly followed his initial incredulous question with a bold claim: “Muslims came here long before Columbus and Cortes and all the rest,” he said,“they were the first to come here and they did not colonize or destroy the place. That’s the difference between us and them.”

Sheikh Youssef is not alone in his reading of history. Far from it. Instead, his remarks reflect a widely held belief among Muslims — in the Americas and elsewhere — that long before Europeans set foot in Latin America, the Caribbean, or elsewhere in the American hemisphere, there were Muslim navigators, explorers, and settlers who arrived on these shores and who left evidence of their presence in maps, records, language, and cultural artifacts.

In the second chapter of my recent book The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean, I explore the claims, stories, the supposed evidence that supports them, and the ways in which Muslims utilize them as a means of claiming space and authenticity in the Americas today. 

Based on the available evidence, there is no reason to lend theories of “Muslim first contact” any credence or historical credibility.

And yet, the claims remain historically significant because they are just that: claims.

Before we can deal with the documented historical evidence about Muslims in the Americas arriving alongside and after European colonizers, it is important to first address claims such as Sheikh Youssef’s.

As evidence of pre-Columbian Muslim “discovery” of the “New World,” various advocates of the theory raise up the following:

• Maps from the likes of Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn al-Husain al-Mas‘udi, Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti (better known as al-Idrisi), or Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (better known as Piri Reis) that hint at lands and peoples beyond the Atlantic.

• Pre-Columbian inscriptions, explorers’ accounts, and supposed linguistic parallels that point to West African presence in the Americas.

• Secondary sources written by the likes of Leo Weiner (Africa and the Discovery of America) or Barry Fell (Saga America), neither of whom were trained historians.

Although the evidence is spurious — and the claims effectively erase the accomplishments of the Americas’ indigenous peoples and civilizations — the reference of it affords an opportunity to consider why it is that so many different cultures and countries claim that they were the ones to “discover” the Americas in in the first place.

In my book, I suggest that although the claims lack scientific proof, it is not in architecture, society, or genealogy that we should begin thinking about Islam and Muslim communities in the Americas, but in the realm of ideas, identifications, and historical claims. 

Whatever it is that is remembered in this narrative of Muslim first contact, it is not verifiable facts, or in any case not just facts. Claims of first contact are an attempt to underscore fluctuating, marginalized, and uncertain identities with historical primacy and critique those who are able to control the narrative of a region’s identity and history. In the case of the Americas, it is a means of pushing back against Eurocentric (and predominately Christian) frames that dominate our understanding of the hemisphere.

Even though the claims are not true, they illustrate the ongoing importance of the Americas in the global Muslim imagination and the ongoing importance of discussing and debating the place of Islam in the Americas. In the end, I suggest that these claims are less about confirming pre-Columbian Muslim presence in Latin America and the Caribbean and more about claiming the region as their own today.

Thus, any assessment of these claims needs to not only examine the available evidence, but perhaps more poignantly, explore the claims’ contemporary significance for Muslims across the hemisphere.

Fictions can be full of useful truths that do real work in the world, even though they are not true. To craft a sense of identity, of belonging, takes more than facts, it takes faith. To belong is, in a sense, to believe in more than what is simply historical fact. While we must distinguish between fact and fiction — and critique the myths we know we are making — we cannot dismiss fictions that take on a truth of their own in the lives of those who believe them, claim them to be true, and advance them as historical fact.

Using pictorial art for interreligious dialogue

The Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas is not necessarily what you think it is. Unless, of course, you thought it was a decidedly nondenominational, octagonal chapel adorned with fourteen black, but colour-hued, paintings by U.S. artist Mark Rothko.

Image cover for Christopher Longhurst’s book “Pictorial Art for Interreligious Dialogue.” Photo courtesy of KAICIID.

Welcoming some 100,000 visitors of many faiths — and no faith — from across the world each year, the aim of the chapel is, “to create opportunities for spiritual growth and dialogue that illuminate our shared humanity and lead to a world in which all are treated with dignity and respect.” Quite frequently, after stepping outside the chapel, visitors will often ask each other, “what did you see in there?”

It is those kinds of conversations that Roman Catholic theologian and 2020 KAICIID Fellow Dr. Christopher Longhurst hopes to prompt with his new book, Pictorial Art for Interreligious Dialogue.

Funded by the KAICIID Fellows Programme, the publication explores the unique usage of pictorial art to undertake interreligious dialogue, presenting a practical guide to help educators learn and teach an effective and enjoyable interreligious dialogue in both academic and informal settings.

December 2021 Book Giveaway!

Looking to get that religion nerd in your life something unique for the holidays?

Interested in exploring the vibrancy and diversity of Muslim life and experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean?

In the market for an effective sleep aid? ;)

Well, I’ve got extra copies of my new book The Muslims of Latin America and the Caribbean and I’d like to give one away!

To enter to win a copy sent to the address of your choice, simply do any of the following between now and December 14, 2021:

1) Sign up for my Religion+Culture E-Newsletter;

2) Sign up for the Latin America and Caribbean Islamic Studies Newsletter;

3) Share news about the book and/or the book giveaway and tag me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

Entries are open until December 14. Multiple entries allowed.

Questions, comments, or conundrums? Send me a note.

Gracias a Dios, alhamdulillah, and great thanks to each and every one of you

The acknowledgements section of my book was extremely gratifying to write. It is even more gratifying to share it here with you.

Perhaps this has become trite to say, but after such an undertaking, I can attest that completing this book would have been impossible without the help of others. I am indebted to each and every one of the following individuals and to many others. 

The debts of gratitude and appreciation that I have accumulated are vast, and I ask forgiveness from all those I neglect to name here. And, it must be said, any errors in this book are solely my own and are not the responsibility of those who provided input throughout the process.

First, to the students in my spring 2017 Islam in the Americas course at the University of Florida: You gave me the idea for this book. Thank you also to the graduate students in my course at Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg in Germany. Beyond inspiration, you helped develop, think through, critique, and expand some of the ideas that formed the backbone of this work. You also researched and wrote your own papers, which informed my knowledge and expanded my understanding of the landscape of this field. Best of all, you challenged me with your questions, comments, and critiques. You are already contributors to this field, and I thank you for your continued engagement with it.

To those I spoke with at the Latin American Studies Association Congress, the Caribbean Studies Association Conference, the American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, the University of Florida and its Center for Global Islamic Studies, the Florida Caribbean Students Association, Florida International University, Otto Friedrich Universität Bamberg, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, and Freie Universität Berlin: My presentations at these venues helped me to elucidate and elaborate on some of the themes in this book. Preparing these presentations also allowed me to work out some of the devils hiding in the details. Thank you to the participants, presiders, and panelists for your critical feedback and insightful questions.

Thank you to the editors of the extraordinarily helpful Critical Muslim series and Hamsa: Journal of Judaic and Islamic Studies. Thanks also to Frank Usarski and the International Journal of Latin American Religions and its editorial team for publishing an early review of literature that came to form the basis for this book’s outline. Thank you also to Celso Luiz Terzetti Filho for recommending me for its inaugural issue. Thank you to the people behind The Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions—senior editor Henri Gooren, the contributors to my section, and the editorial staff at Springer—for allowing me to serve as a section editor for the entries on Islam and Judaism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Readers will note that I have referenced entries from the encyclopedia in this book, which is a testament to the essential nature of the work, especially with regard to its emphasis on religions too often ignored (Islam, in particular) when surveying religion in the region.

To the Muslims and others who invited me into their homes and mosques, who told me their stories, or who shared their insights and experiences with me: I dedicate this book to you for good reason. There would be no book without you, plain and simple. I am humbly honored to learn from you in each conversation and new experience that I stumble and bumble my way through. Thank you for your patience, your confidence to speak, and your permission to allow me to share these stories. Gracias a Dios, alhamdulillah, and great thanks to each and every one of you. This book is my perspective on your narrative, and I respectfully submit it to you for critical feedback. I look forward to the conversations to come.

To the many scholars whose work I turn to in this book: This is your book, as well. As I state in Chapters 1 and 11, the book is meant to be an overview of an ongoing conversation in which you are all vital parts. Thank you for allowing me to be a co-collaborator in this field. I hope the book helps all of us continue to teach, learn, and delve deeper into the topic. Specifically, I would like to thank several individuals whose work I reference or allude to and with whom I was able to speak about their particular areas of expertise and research: Carlos Jair Martínez Albarracín, Patrick Bowen, Philipp Bruckmayr, Karoline P. Cook, Kevin Funk, Michelle Romero Gallardo, Juan Galvan, Hazel Gómez, Cynthia Hernández González, Nik Hasif, Aisha Khan, Aliyah Khan, Schuyler Marquez, Arely Medina, Harold Morales, Alaina Morgan, Madelina Nuñez, Luciana Garcia de Oliveira, Lucía Cirianni Salazar, Omar Ramadan Santiago, and others. As I recently said to Schuyler Marquez, “A win for one of us is a win for all of us” in this emerging field.

To my family and friends: Thank you for your cheerleading, encouragement, and forbearance as I talked about my project, retreated into my writing cave, or cut you off as I jotted down an idea that popped into my head. Thanks especially to my parents, Bob and Sandy: You have always encouraged me, no matter what I have done. When I was worried, stressed, or overwhelmed, you gave me proper perspective and the support to keep me supple to the strain of life and work. You gave me life—literally, figuratively, and spiritually. Thank you to Brett, who taught me the meaning of perseverance in the face of adversity and can always make me smile. Thank you to my German family and friends, including Karl Knaack (also known as Stefan Müller) and his electronic music, which helped me work through hours of manuscript writing, editing, and research. Thank you to Michael and Emily Knippa for a lovely stay in St. Louis, where I was able to write the bulk of Chapter 9. Thank you also to Andy and Faye Scott, whose lovely farmhouse in Bend, Oregon, permitted me to write the concluding chapter in peace and comfort while admiring the cloud-covered Cascade Mountains. 

Despite my weaknesses as a writer, I would like to thank all those who taught me how to research, write, and edit my way through an essay, a paper, a blog post, a news story, or a book: Mrs. Kelly, Mrs. Campbell, Mrs. Davis, and editors at the various papers, magazines, and portals in which I have had the honor to be published. Thanks also go to professors, mentors, and colleagues at Concordia University Irvine, who specifically helped refine my academic research and writing skills—Christine Lawton, Eshetu Abate Koyra, Korey Maas, James Bachman, Steven Mueller, and Jack Schultz, among others. I still have much to learn, and any shortcomings in my syntax or style are solely my responsibility. 

I am forever thankful for the pure privilege it was to conduct research with, learn from, and grow alongside the faculty, staff, and fellow researchers at the University of Florida, its Department of Religion, the Center for Latin American Studies, and the Center for Global Islamic Studies. Terje Østebø, Anna Peterson, Benjamin Soares, Efraín Barradas, David Hackett, Robin Wright, Whitney Sanford, Zoharah Simmons, and others provided the space for me to explore the themes of this book and write its first draft during my time in Gainesville. Thanks also to Barbara Mennel and Sophia Krzys Acord at the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere and their sponsorship of my attendance at the 2018 Writing Retreat at the Austin Cary Forest Learning Center, where I was able to put the final touches on the first draft.

I would also like to thank those who provided funding to support revisions of the manuscript. First, thanks to Ermin Sinanović and the Center of Islam in the Contemporary World at Shenandoah University for a grant that supported significant revisions in fall 2019. Thank you also to the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for funding my research at the Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies at Freie Universität Berlin, where I was able to make final revisions (even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic) with the full security of a research position in a supportive environment of colleagues. In particular, I thank Konrad Hirschler and Lars Ostermeier for their leadership and direction, Nadja Danilenko for writing tips, Antje Müller for taking care of the logistics of my position, Giulia Brabetz for her assistance and critical feedback on the manuscript along the way, and the fellows who participated in my Theorizing Global Islam reading group, in which we discussed this book’s main arguments and themes.

Thank you to the team at Lynne Rienner Publishers. I appreciate (and tremble a bit at) being able to follow in the footsteps of Judith Elkin, who published The Jews of Latin America with the same independent academic publishing house years ago. While my work cannot hope to compare, Lynne Rienner, Caroline Owen Wintersgill, Nicole Moore, Sally Glover, Allie Schellong, Diane Foose, and others were gracious throughout the process as we sought to provide a companion to such a seminal work. My thanks also go to the anonymous reviewers who provided critical, detailed, and constructive feedback that improved the final version of the text significantly. Unfortunately, that type of review feedback can be a rare commodity in academic publishing. Therefore, I am extremely grateful.

Finally, Paula, how can a paragraph express how much you have given to me in life and how much you have contributed to this book? In short, it cannot. Let this suffice for now: Thank you for your fierce intellect, constant encouragement, contagious joy, and for providing proper rhythm in life. Thank you for allowing me time to explore mosques and other sites of interest in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, New York, Iowa, Florida, the Bahamas, and elsewhere. Thank you also for reading the manuscript and providing feedback, specifically in matters related to Arabic. You were gracious to take time out of your schedule to do so. What’s more, every time I finished a chapter, wrote a few thousand words, or just stared at the computer for a while trying to figure out where to go next, you were always ready with an encouraging word, an insightful comment, or an offer to get snacks. You are the most amazing best friend and partner I could ask for.

“Come out from among them and be different”: An Interview with Philip Yancey

Yancey’s Where the Light Fell  (Convergent, October.) digs up his roots in the fundamentalist South in the 1950s and ’60s. Yancey not only recounts how he came to repudiate aspects of his past, but managed to rekindle his faith and share the “good news” he believes it offers the world. 

In my interview with Yancey on behalf of Publisher’s Weekly, the popular author shared why his latest book is a memoir, what he learned by digging up his past, and how it speaks to evangelical realities in the U.S. today.

“We took the Bible verse ‘Come out from them and be different’ seriously. We dressed differently, we acted differently. We stood out. We were a marginalized group. In the end, the church served as a community of support. Life is difficult, especially if you’re in a poor community and you feel like you’re on the margins already.”

— Philip Yancey

Review: Latino and Muslim in America

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Since 2016, the issues of immigration, religious freedom, and the question of the compatibility of Islam and the West have been hotter-than-usual issues in the United States. In the narrative of Latino Muslims (a term I will later problematize) in the US, these various strands intersect and overlap. 

According to Harold Morales’s own previous research, there “are likely between 50,000 to 70,000” Latino Muslims in the US. Regardless of numbers, there is a pertinent need to study religious minorities such as Latino Muslims for their ability to “de-naturalize and de-essentialize, to broaden and to push our varied and unfixed understandings of and relations” (211) to various categories of religion, identity, ethnicity, and issues such as immigration, religious freedom, and Islam in and of the West. This need is what Morales seeks to address in his latest book, Latino and Muslim in America: Race, Religion, and the Making of a New Minority.

Raising religiously literate Americans: A Q&A with author Linda K. Wertheimer

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My first degree was in education. My current studies focus on religion. When a book called Faith Ed,: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance came out I was compelled to read it. Not only did the author — journalist Linda K. Wertheimer — provide an in-depth and thoughtful look at particular cases of controversy and success in religious studies education at primary and secondary levels across the U.S., but she rightly highlights a public education system wrestling with the practicalities of how to nurture a new generation of religiously literate U.S. citizens. 

To explore the topic and the text more I caught up with Wertheimer. Below is our Q&A. 

*Listen to Wertheimer speak at Books & Books: Miami, FL | Sunday, Jan. 17th 4pm.

Where did you draw your inspiration to write this book?

Faith Ed. grew out of two events, one in my childhood and one more recent. When I was in fourth grade, my family moved from western New York state to rural Ohio. I was the only Jew, other than my brothers, in our new school system. My school had weekly Christianity classes taught in the classroom by a woman from a local church. My parents had me excused from those classes, but peers noticed that I left and asked why. I told them I was Jewish, and as a result, I experienced some ostracism as well anti-Semitism. I always wondered, though, if my peers’ treatment was more ignorance than anti-Semitism. I wondered, too, if it would have made a difference if teachers had taught us about many religions instead of promoting only one. Those kind of questions inspired me in part to write Faith Ed.

The second event that led to writing this book was hearing about a suburban Boston middle school’s field trip to a mosque and a subsequent controversy. I was fascinated to learn that sixth-graders were spending half a year learning about the world’s religions and even more intrigued to find out that learning about religion was required as part of social studies. I wanted to know more.

What's the one takeaway you want people to get from this book? 

My hope is that readers realize the importance of teaching about religion in public schools and the difference it can make not only for religious minorities but for those in the majority. I also hope this book can renew dialogue about the best way to teach about religion and how young to begin such instruction. It’s more vital now than ever to emphasize the importance of religious literacy because education can reduce ignorance and the bigotry we’re hearing aimed at Muslims in particular these days.

Do you feel that education is a necessary precursor to respect and tolerance? Is it enough?   

The goal should be that we learn to respect other faiths rather than simply tolerate them. I do believe education is a great way to help achieve respect for different religions. Is it enough? No, because education only reaches those in the classrooms. What about the adults who never learned about other religions? We need to figure out how to reach them. Children are greatly influenced by their parents.

You focus a lot on Islam; what other religions are being marginalized without proper religious education? 

It is not just Islam that is greatly misunderstood. Students who were Sikh, Jewish and Hindu spoke of being bullied because of their faith. So did a Jehovah’s Witness. Religions in the minority as well as lesser known branches of Christianity all face some of the same issues as Islam.

People on all sides of the issue have passion and purpose in their reasoning. Do you think the passion is helpful or hurtful to the cause of education about religion? 

I don’t think passion is a problem as long as educators and parents can be objective whether they are teaching the material or their children are learning it. Some of these protests against lessons on Islam stemmed from ignorance and bigotry. There wasn’t enough reasoned discourse about the events.

Who is doing education about religion right?

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The author Linda K. Wertheimer. 

I think educators could look at a variety of places for models. For elementary schools, the Core Knowledge curriculum is worth checking out. The Core Knowledge Foundation [featured in the book] consults experts on different religions to design its materials. First graders learn basic information about different religions in a neutral, balanced way. The curriculum is based on what students should learn as part of social studies and geography.

Modesto, CA [also featured in the book] has been held up as a model repeatedly because it’s the only school system in the country to require all high school students to take a world religions course before graduation. The course lasts only nine weeks and is really a basic look at six or more faiths. While the course doesn’t delve deep, the teachers do spend time teaching about the First Amendment and the separation of church and state. They also coach students how to ask questions without offense about religion. A study by researcher Emile Lester shows promising results, including the likelihood that students will stand up more for a religious minority.

How can families augment their child's learning in school? 

If their children attend a public school, then they likely will get some education about religion. Most states require study of religion as part of social studies and geography in middle and high school. But families can learn more about different religions from a variety of sources. Start with the children’s section in your local library and ask the librarian to point out books on different religions and holidays.

Parents can educate themselves by reading books about the world’s religions and then sharing their knowledge with their children. I’d recommend Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions or Stephen Prothero’s God Is Not One. Prothero’s Religious Literacy is also a great book to read to improve your religious literacy. Also part of education is based on experience. Take your children to other houses of worship. Visit churches, temples, mandirs, shrines, and mosques on your travels if you can or in your own community.

What message do you have for fellow journalists in an age of religious intolerance and ignorance? 

Educate yourself about different religions so you don’t unintentionally boost stereotypes. Meet clergy and activists of different faiths. If you know the least about Islam, do something about it. Attend a service at a local mosque or a local interfaith event. Write stories that help improve the education of Americans on religion. Don’t just identify a person as Christian. Are they Protestant, Catholic, or Lutheran or something else? Realize that all religions have diversity and try to understand the layers.

Anything else you want to share? 

Yes, many Americans don’t know it’s even legal to teach about religion in public school. They think Supreme Court cases in the 1960s kicked all religion out of the classroom. Those court rulings merely prohibited promoting one religion through prayer and the recitation of Bible verses. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark in the 1963 Abington v. Schempp ruling made it clear that if anything, schools needed to do more regarding religion – but in an academic way. His words still ring true today: “It might well be said that one’s education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization.”

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Confessing America's Original Sin

Addressing multiple reports of a white police officer shooting an African American, such as in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Lauquan McDonald in Chicago, Jim Wallis—public theologian, political activist, and founding editor of Sojourners magazine, argues that the events are part of a legacy stretching back to slavery.

His new book, America’s Original Sin: Racism, White Privilege, and the Bridge to a New America(Brazos, Jan.), not only tries to diagnose the underlying and systemic issues that are causing racial strife, but asks Americans to recognize what he calls their original sins — slavery and racism — before they can move forward together.

“We have to address our country’s racial injustice and the fundamental difference of opinion and perspective between white and black people about the criminal justice system, education, and economics,” Wallis told me in a recent interview and profile I did for Publisher's Weekly. 

Are paranormal experiences "real?"

The alien abduction. The specter in the basement. The creature under the bed. The numinous feeling in the face of nature or thoughts of eternal, external, and effervescent consciousness. 

Real? Not real? What do you think? 

In a recent interview with Jeffrey J. Kripal, the Religious Studies Project talked with the man who holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at Rice University about his recent works Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal (Chicago, 2011) and Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred (Chicago, 2010).

In these works, Kripal shared how participation in what we call “the sacred” is a critical element that undergirds religious understanding and activity. From his perspective, human consciousness qualifies, as well as anything else, as “the sacred” itself, and must therefore be addressed and wrestled with by any self-respecting student of religion.

Particularly, Kripal argued that generally marginalized authors who have attempted to theorize the paranormal be treated as central to the religious project, even though their work deals with marvels deemed outside both mainstream scientific and/or religious parameters.

I had the opportunity to respond to Kripal from an ethnographic point of view and, in the midst of this response, to share my own paranormal experience. Enjoy the rest of the article and join the conversation by clicking below: 

Accidental Saints -- Nadia Bolz-Weber's Bold Vision of the Church and its People

Exhausted from a double-header of liturgy and preaching, Caleb came running up to hand me his Sunday-school artwork. It was a mosaic. Of sorts. He had attempted to craft a paper-maché and mixed media mosaic of the loaves and two fishes from the Tabgha chapel in the Sea of Galilee region in Israel. 

Let us, to say the least, admit that Caleb is no Da Vinci. Perhaps more of a Picasso, but no classical artist for sure. The elementary mosaic had glue in all the wrong places, empty spaces, and roughly cut pictures of random loaves and cartoon fish. 

Fine art it was not. But it was beautiful. 

Like the Christian church itself it was muddled, misshapen, and makeshift. Naturally, I loved it for what it was and cherished it for what it represented for me — the fluky, flailing, and often times frightful church I find myself a part of. 

In her latest book — Accidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People — Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber has written a story of her church, and the Church, that is raw, honest, and full of grace in all its visceral glory. If her last work, Pastrix, was her personal narrative told through life in community at House for All Sinners and Saints (HFASS) — the church she planted in Denver, CO — then Accidental Saints is the story of that community told through the personal lens of its “pastrix," Nadia Bolz-Weber. 

What Bolz-Weber reveals is challenging, gender-bending, and boundary breaking for those with stricter, or more conventional, conceptions of why the Church exists, what it is, and who is part of it. 

It is the story of saints who don’t quite fit the conformist molds and the account of their pastor who is broken, grace-filled, and transparent as she wrestles with God’s favor poured out on unlikely individuals and blessing coming through unorthodox benefactors. 

That’s because, for Bolz-Weber, ‘saints’ = people who have accidentally stumbled into redemption. She wrote that all of us can, and in many ways already are, saints. In what can be the closest thing to an evangelistic appeal from Bolz-Weber, she said, “God wants you, you in your imperfect, broken, shimmering, glory.”

Grace is the central theme of Bolz-Weber’s work; but it ain’t your grandmother’s grace. Claiming she is “not bound by legalism and shame” Bolz-Weber proclaims “the freedom of a Christian” that is found in a grace-filled community of brokenness, imperfection, and stumbling, bumbling, inefficient, healing. 

She talks about “the sting of grace.” 

“It’s powerful, but it’s offensive at the same time, because it’s not fair, and it doesn’t work into our notions of justice. It changes us, and it’s what we need, but it doesn’t mean it feels good,” she said. 

Reflecting on the book, Bolz-Weber added, “what I hope is that people would read this book and see [the glory of God in the midst of our crap] and realize how transformative it can be.” 

Of course, this grace cannot be experienced outside of community. And community is central to the story of Bolz-Weber and HFASS. She said, “the beautiful, radical grace that flows from the heart of God to God’s broken and blessed humanity” is impossible outside community. 

With that said, Bolz-Weber categorically does not offer up HFASS as a shining example for others to follow, nor does she want onlookers or spiritual tourists banging on her church’s door. Instead, she offers up the stories of her community of fractured selves as an example in radical, grace-filled, failure. She said, “I think we’re in a time in the life of the church where stories of failure are so much more important than stories of success.” 

Why? Because that’s where resurrection comes in. Sometimes it comes like a beautiful song, other times like a brick through a window. Bolz-Weber said plainly that sometimes, “God’s mercy is a blunt instrument…the kind that kills the thing that wronged it and resurrects something new in its place.” 

As far as the potential “unorthodoxy” of her views and the condemnation that comes from many corners of evangelicalism, and her own Lutheran tribe, she doesn’t seem too flustered. Instead, she marches boldly on in “Christian freedom” and doesn’t worry about the haters. Affirming that she is categorically not “a Christian apologist” Bolz-Weber is just doing her thing. All the while, she claims herself as a “pretty orthodox Lutheran theologian.” 

Even so, she said, “Belief is going to be influenced by all sorts of things that I have nothing to do with, so I don’t feel responsible for that. I’m responsible for what [people] hear…the Gospel.”

For that matter, she sees herself as just another “accidental saint” with flaws, inoperative parts, and regular failures. If people get pissed about her colored language or her unusual take on things, so be it. Let the naysayers call her a sinner, a heretic, a pastrix. “I think that God’s work in the world is and has always been done through sinners,” she said. 

She closed, “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Humility and Courage in Education

Yesterday I tweeted/posted a #morningprayer, which I have been known to do on occasion. The prayer went like this:

“A #morningprayer for the start of school: Let all instruction, training, & learning constantly be permeated by humility & courage. Amen.”

Many of you liked it, some of you retweeted it, and a couple of people asked me what it means, or what it looks like, to be have our learning and teaching be humble and courageous. Good questions class.

Humility in education

For me, education is all about humility. It's about being a constant learner whether you are in the student's seat or at the teacher's desk. This perspective comes from two quotes:

1) The first is posted on my bulletin board hanging over my desk and stares me in the face as I type, read, and zone out. It is: 

“The purpose of THINKING is not to gain knowledge, but to LEARN to consider the world in light of our irremediable ignorance.”

— Paul Ricoeur

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Didn't believe me? There's that quote, right where I promised it would be. (PHOTO: Ken Chitwood)

Write that one down folks. I find that the more I learn the more I don't know. For those of us in academia that is a crushing burden that causes us to question our validity and authenticity as we publish articles, teach classes, and bat around titles like "expert" or "doctor." Scary. I know. Such a realization should prove a catalyst for all of us to never put the books down, to ask questions and listen and learn as much as we talk and teach. It should also keep us humble. 

2) That quote is put in context by one of my favorite proverbs:

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance...”

— Proverbs 1:5

Put that in your arrogant little pipe and smoke it. Double back on that proverb for a moment and realize what is being said -- that the wise (a.k.a. those who already know a whole bunch) hear and increase their learning; that those who get it go back to school. This is even more powerful when put in the context of the verse before, which refers to the young and the naive. We are never to old to learn, never to wise to absorb new things, and never too young to teach. For profs and instructors this means leaning in to what you will learn together with your students. For students, this means gleaning wisdom from those who have gone before you even though you think you know it all. For those of us who are educational elites, it means listening to those who are not adorned with official letters or degrees and may be considered peripheral to society.

Wisdom comes from many sources, the question is whether we are humble enough to hear it. 

Now what about courage? 

In light of the lecture on humility, what does it mean to have courage in education and instruction? It means diving head-first into a liberal, progressive, and challenging education in the classroom and in the world. 

There are constant pressures for you to conform to the process of education. To fit the mold of the model student. While there is a time and place to submit to authorities and maintain the aforementioned humility, there is also a time and a place to push the boundaries, to question the curriculum, and to boldly take hold of the world through education. 

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If you haven't read any Vonnegut, you need to. Like right now. Start your "night school" with a collection of his short stories or one of his novels. You won't regret it. 

When I was in 9th grade I was at that point. I was tired of school, spoiled with my suburban education, and was a little brat. Enter Mrs. Mary Starr Kelly and Kurt Vonnegut's tale of Harrison Bergeron. The story is a classic about conformity and breaking the mold. After we finished the short story we all had to write essays. Being a pompous little punk I penned a fairly unseemly little essay about how having 30-odd freshmen write an essay on a short story about conformity, wherein we would be judged by a rubric of compliance, was tantamount to nonsense (though, I may have used stronger language). Mrs. Kelly not only gave me an "A" on the assignment, she made me her TA and I was seated at the teacher's desk from then on. She took over my academic schedule and placed me in AP classes and as her TA for the next two years in AP European History and AP World History. I wouldn't be on the educational trajectory I am on today if it wasn't for Mrs. Kelly. 

While the kudos go to Mrs. Kelly for that brilliant intervention and dishing-up of a piece of humble pie to a student sorely in need of it, she has constantly taught me to be courageous in my learning -- to write that essay, to teach classes on European history as a sophomore, and grade essays on Islam and world religions written by my classmates.  

She also pushed me to "go to night school." So much of education these days requires certain readings and rubrics. This is fine and good, but we should never settle for reading simply what we are assigned. Instead, we should continue to learn at home even when we aren't doing "homework." Check the bibliography of a good book, follow the footnotes, and trace the genealogical history of an excellent work to extend your learning beyond what is required. Don't conform to the contours of the educational stream you're on, paddle to the side, dock, and explore the world around you. Be adventurous in your learning and you'll never be the same. 

That's what it means to be humble and courageous in our learning and our teaching. And that is still my prayer as students and teachers from preschool to post-doc start their terms this week. Go get it. 

Peace. 

What is it to study religion?

People ask me what I am studying all of the time. What they are asking me is, "what does it mean to study religion?"

Good question. 

Here's my "elevator speech" on what it means to study religion:

“It is not theological. It is not sociological. Instead, it is an empathetic, yet critical, exploration of religion as it is perceived and practiced in the world. It is the interdisciplinary and secular study of religious beliefs & behaviors, popular practices and institutions, materials and media. In its many manifestations it seeks to honestly describe, interpret, compare, and explain religion and religious phenomena. It often draws out semi-coherent, historically charted, and cross-cultural, if not transnational, perspectives. I work in the ethnographic exploration of glocal religion, which is the attempt to provide a scientific, if situated, study of a people’s religion as it is embodied in everyday life, across time, and in multiple spaces. ”

— Me

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That's what the study of religion is, but what does it look like? Answering this question is the aim of George D. Chryssides (PhD, University of Birmingham) and Ron Geaves (PhD, Liverpool Hope University) in their 2nd edition of The Study of Religion: An Introduction to Key Ideas and Methods (2014). Rather than simply offering an introductory text that tries to spell out, in an essentialized, siloed, & woefully inadequate manner the systematized basics (or codified essences) of each "world religion" (as if there is such a neatly defined category), these authors instead seek to equip their reader with the tools for the study of religion. This is a brilliant move and one that the two scholars should be applauded for.  

I was honored to review this book for the latest edition of the Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review (5:2). To delve deeper into what I think about the book, you can read that review HERE. 

What you will find in this approach to an "introduction to the study of religion" is three-fold:

• an appreciation for the distinctiveness of religious studies as a discipline sui generis and deserving of its own rationale, theoretical foundations, and methods of study;
• an awareness of the very reflexive, disciplined, and self-critical thought that scholars in this field have put into the why, how, and what of their discipline of study; and 
• because of its situated, yet scientific, approach to religious phenomenon how vitally important it is for understanding political forces, social movements, and other areas beyond what we typically treat as "religious." 

In their own words, this text is "a 'user-friendly' approach...introducing a number of key methodological issues surrounding the study of religion, and explaining why they are needed." (3) To that end, they do a fair job and although the text is not without its weaknesses, I highly recommend it for undergraduate courses introducing the study of religion, for independent/community study groups, or for anyone interested in learning more about religion. This is a better place to start than with a "world religions" survey, because instead of introducing you to several religions and leaving you with a thousand-and-one questions about the many variants of each of these religions and the many more religions not covered in the book it empowers you to do your own informed, empathetic, and nuanced study as you encounter religious phenomenon.

So get reading, and get exploring the wide world of religious studies! 

Why we all need a prayer labyrinth - review & interview with Travis Scholl

My first experience with the labyrinth wasn’t, um…traditional. For those of you unfamiliar with prayer labyrinths, they are paths which lead, via a circuitous, unicursal (only a single path) route, to the center of an intricate design and back out again. Walking a labyrinth is a means of praying with the body along with the mind and soul. Often installed near, or inside, churches and cathedrals they are meant for spiritual journeys, or, as Travis Scholl wrote in his new book Walking the Labyrinth: A Place to Pray and Seek God, a labyrinth is “a path of pilgrimage and prayer, a living symbol of the journey of faith in a sinful, broken world.”

*Follow Ken on Twitter - @kchitwood

But again, my first experience with a prayer labyrinth wasn’t of stone and grass, intricate designs or holy architecture…it involved TVs, trash-cans, and staring at a mirror. No, it wasn't an odyssey into the strange world of David Bowie's "Labyrinth" film (though, that is a trip). Designed as an “interactive installation for spiritual journeys” the one I first walked was a contemporary twist on an ancient tradition, aimed at a digital, and distracted, generation. You can even explore the labyrinth online HERE.

Since that first experience at a Lutheran youth gathering in Palm Springs, CA I have since explored labyrinths in Nelson, New Zealand, Paris, France, and in Houston, TX. Each one took me on its own particular path toward “the unknowable center of life, its mystery, unseen and unheard in the babble and hustle of our everyday existence.” Indeed, as Scholl intimates, we living in a hurried, inundated, and constantly connected world “need the labyrinth.” 

More than anything else, walking a prayer labyrinth is engaging in a physical-spiritual discipline with ancient roots. To understand the labyrinthine ins-and-outs of prayer labyrinths, and to invite readers into a journey of curiosity, discovery, and even divine encounter, Travis Scholl — managing editor of theological publications at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO — wrote this new book with a foreword from Walter Wangerin Jr. 

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Designed to serve as a 40-day devotional exploration of prayer labyrinth reflections this text is a perfect resource for the season of Lent. Bringing together historical context on the labyrinth, first-hand biographical transparency, creative and intricate writing, and weighty devotional commentary on the crossing of the labyrinth, and indeed the crossing of life, I highly recommend Scholl’s work.

*You can purchase it HERE.

To learn more about the man, his journey, and the book itself read the in-depth interview below:

Tell me a little bit about what got you initially interested with the labyrinth…

My first introduction to the labyrinth came through literature. As an undergrad English major, I read Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths, which is a collection of his short stories, parables, and various fictions. Borges’ stories got me very interested in the labyrinth as a literary symbol of paradox and mystery. A passage from Borges is one of the epigraphs to my book. I should also add that I liked playing with maze games as a kid, including Rubik’s Cube, which is, in its own way, a labyrinth.

Why did you decide to interweave your journey with, and through, the labyrinth with a devotional expedition through Lent?

After I discovered the church labyrinth in our neighborhood, it just seemed like an interesting daily discipline to use during Lent. Nothing more, nothing less. As I approached Ash Wednesday, it occurred to me that I could also use it as a daily writing exercise. I actually wrote about that initial experience in my St. Louis Post-Dispatch blog. The book arose from there.

Now, you're Lutheran and the labyrinth, well, isn’t (at least historically). At the very least, you don’t see labyrinths at Lutheran churches and there is some censure that comes from conservative Lutheran circles about practices like this. What kind of blowback do you expect, or have received, and what is your response?

I knew going in that the labyrinth has been coopted by various, for lack of a better word, New Age-y type mysticisms. But I also knew that its roots in medieval Christianity were strong (I had studied the architecture of Chartres cathedral in France during undergrad too). So, as it developed, I saw my book as an attempt to recover the labyrinth as an authentically Christian practice. I don’t know if I really expected “blowback,” but I guess it didn’t surprise me when people misconstrued the labyrinth’s history or what my book is trying to accomplish. No, the labyrinth is not typically “Lutheran.” But then again, 50 years ago, the last thing you’d see on a Lutheran pastor is a chasuble. So, what I’ve always found refreshing as a Lutheran is our tradition’s ability to recover practices from Christian history and re-energize them with a Gospel-centered focus.

You move back-and-forth between history and present, walking the labyrinth and moving through the Gospel of Mark. What does this unconventional approach bring to the readers’ enjoyment of this book and contemplation of its themes?

I hope it does for readers the same thing it did for me: it brought me face-to-face with Jesus Christ in the Scriptures. And it showed that the path Jesus walks in the Gospel of Mark is very much its own kind of labyrinth, the way he moves back-and-forth, around and around Galilee, the way his steps lead inescapably, like a vortex, to the cross.  And, finally, the way the empty tomb leads us back out of the vortex, into “our” Galilee.

Have you gone back to walk the labyrinth since you finished the book? What’s different, the same, with this discipline for you now?

After my Lenten discipline, and while I was working on the book, I intentionally stayed away from the actual labyrinth I walked. Mainly because I wanted to get some distance from the experience, the kind of critical distance any writer needs to be able to finish a book. Since then, I’ve walked it a time or three, and what strikes me is how the physical grounds of the labyrinth have changed. There’s a community garden there now, among other things. That may sound trivial, but that’s to me a key component of the labyrinth as a discipline, the way it awakens us to what is happening right in front of our face, which we often don’t see because our mind is somewhere else or our nose is buried in a smartphone. I guess in that sense I see “labyrinths” in a lot of different places now, being attentive to the world around me anytime I walk from one place to another.

When you touch on the Gospel narratives you bring a certain humanizing touch to the narrative (e.g. Jesus laughing p. 175). What does this bring to the story of the Gospels?

I don’t know if it’s something I “bring” to the story of the Gospels as much as it’s something I see or hear happening within them as I read the Gospels. I’m very much drawn to the biblical idea of midrash as a way of reading the Bible, that when we read closely between the lines of texts, we can see something that illuminates the whole of them. It is a way of living in the text rather than simply looking at the text.

Walking the labyrinth is a discipline of the body, the soul, the mind. How does such a practice augment lived Christian spirituality in the 21st century?

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Travis Scholl, author. 

This is a great question, because it points to the way that the labyrinth, as one among various Christian practices, involves the whole body, the whole self (similar to, for instance, the Stations of the Cross). For a faith that is centered in the incarnation, I think this is essential to Christian living, especially now when so much of our life and culture pulls us away from the body, from the stuff of earth, which I think is really just another form of Gnosticism, the heresy which simply says the body is “all bad” and the soul is “all good.”

You mention that walking the labyrinth makes you more attentive to the world around you. What did you, by walking the labyrinth, notice about the world that you didn’t before?

I touched on this a little bit already, but one of the things I noticed is that there are so many interesting things we can notice, even on a little patch of grass in the middle of a bustling city, if we just stop for a moment. We miss so much of it. I talk about it in the book, but I remember one day when I could smell warm maple syrup from the café across the street. Or the way the leaves broke open the trees at that particular time in spring. This is life happening before our very eyes, all over the place, so simple but so profound.

What do you hope people get out of this book?

That’s a difficult question for me to answer, because I don’t want to preempt people into a certain way of reading the book. I do hope people can themselves become more attentive to the world around them by reading the book. I certainly hope it gives readers a window into the literary labyrinth we call the Gospel of Mark. But, honestly, I would be incredibly flattered if people simply found a few well-written words in there, words that stick with them for awhile.

Anything else you want to share?

Thanks much for the opportunity to talk about Walking the Labyrinth. I welcome feedback on Twitter (@travisjscholl). Grace and peace in the walking.

Unpacking Tough Religious Words: An interview with authors Heather Choate Davis and Leann Luchinger

The church has a language problem. 

No, it isn’t because pastors are swearing from the pulpit. The issue here is with words that life long Christians may understand, but many in the unchurched, dechurched, or in-church-but-checked-out culture don’t. Indeed, whether it’s mystification, misunderstanding, or miscommunication, many of us struggle to communicate the good news of the Gospel in our preaching, teaching, and evangelism.

Heather Choate Davis and Leann Luchinger, in their new book Loaded Words: Freeing 12 Hard Bible Words from their Baggage, pay us all a favor by detangling religious words that are difficult for to understand. 

Unpacking words like “repent” and “religion,” the authors help restore truth where popular opinion and perception have threatened righteous reality. We might take their cue and try unloading emotion-laden and negatively charged words that our communities, friends, or family may simply not like to hear, or misunderstand when they do. 

The book is available exclusively on Amazon as an e-book or paperback. Having already spoke at congregations in Washington, the authorial pair will be speaking in the Phoenix area in February and headed to New York in the near future. Check out their website for more information on booking them for your church or organization. 

For now, let’s unpack Loaded Words a bit with an in-depth interview with Davis and Luchinger. 

• How can this book help the local church? 

Davis: With so many outside influences jockeying to define Christianity and its message—and not always thoughtfully or accurately—we’re not just talking about a knowledge gap that needs filling, but a vigorous and intentional reclaiming of original meaning. We hope that pastors will welcome the help with some of this much-needed translation work—both exegetical and cultural—of words that people both inside and outside of the church no longer know the true meaning of anymore.

Luchinger: To paraphrase from the back cover of the book “no one wants to be part of an old mean-sounding religion.” Loaded Words gives “seasoned” believers a new way to think about how to share, and even some words and concepts to use for themselves. For newer believers, Loaded Words can help them unpack some difficult concepts.

• My favorite chapter was “WORDS,” specifically this line: “We live in an era that is reliant on words, but our words are no longer reliable.” Unpack this for us…

Davis: We’ve essentially bankrupted the notion of a man’s word as “sacred.” Thoughtful people of all traditions recognize that this is no way to live. In the wildly popular Toltec spiritual treatise The Four Agreements, the first is “Be impeccable with your word.” Notice the choice of the word impeccable, which shares the Latin root pecco with the word sin. 

Luchinger: Semantic change/shift/drift is the more technical way to describe a word that has completely changed it’s meaning from the original definition and use. In the culture we batter words around, using, misusing, and misappropriating them because of coolness factors, or desire to have something (at least the same title) that other people have. If being “bad” is suddenly good, well then call me “bad” – or so it seems. Church words, unfortunately, seem to move in the opposite way – from good to bad. And sadly, it is the words of Christians themselves that, many times, do the most damage. These words that are meant to have a depth of meaning and emotion, offers of explanation and grace, are losing their definitions. Semantically shifting in the wrong direction. We Christians have to reclaim the Christian conversation, the Christian words, the expressions of our faith. 

• Which was your favorite chapter? Why? 

Davis: Ultimately, my favorite chapter is whichever one presents the teachings of Jesus in such a way that someone puts down the book and goes, “Ohhhhhh.” 

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Author Heather Choate Davis shares how, "[w]e are all bombarded with words/messages from culture" and some of them need unpacking and reloading. 

But, I am also fond of some of the big picture thinking put forth in the chapter on “Satan.” We use a famous scene from the movie The Devil Wears Prada to tap into the idea of “this stuff,” and how we actually need to take “this stuff” — both Jesus and His adversary— seriously. We note how ironic it is that the culture embraces psychics and tarot card readings and all forms of skull paraphernalia, but if you tell them that Satan is real they’ll just howl with laughter. I think this chapter gives people some serious food for thought about “this stuff.”

Luchinger: Given the current state of the “Church,” I think this word could be particularly helpful for two reasons: 1) those inside the church could perhaps use an attitude adjustment about what it means to be God’s gathered people. A family, filled with flawed souls, with plank-filled eyes, with pain and distress, and bad days – just like the people who share our sir names; 2) for those inside and outside the church it is a reminder that we don’t need four perfect walls to be a church. We can worship in buildings and homes, in coffee shop churches and college dorms – it is the Word and Sacraments, the body of believers, the gathering of people that make the church – not the bricks and mortar.

• Explain the way you use pop-culture references in the book…

Davis: We are all bombarded with words/messages from culture. Even if a pastor knocks it out of the park on Sunday, that brief message will likely have been drowned out in a day or two by news, work, social media, noisy children, and a thousand competing interests. The teachings of Jesus are simply not the dominant voice in the culture, but we know that He is present in all ways, in all settings, at all times through His Word and His people. To me it all comes down to the lesson of Pentecost, “that each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.” If pop culture is the native language of many people today, then we who seek to connect need to speak in their native tongue. If referencing Family Guy, Game of Thrones, or Fifty Shades of Grey, helps people understand the message of grace in a new way this does not diminish the Gospel, but rather, makes good on its purpose. 

• Wittgenstein, the famous philosophic proponent of language-game theory, argued that varying types and forms of language have different rules, which in turn determine what is meaningful. Outside of a language game a proposition or word meaning is meaningless. Wittgenstein proposed that the meaning of a word depends on its content and the rules of that context. Thus, for Wittgenstein, religious language is confessional, something that someone believes or feels, rather than consisting of claims to truth. Comment on this in light of your work…

Luchinger: I would love to understand where Wittgenstein draws the line between feeling and truth. It appears, based on your description, that feelings have no bearing on truth. Thus love, for him, could not exist because it is a feeling. It reminds me a bit of Lois Lowry’s book The Giver. In this utopian society, feelings were of no use – precision in language was modeled, practiced, and expected. The Giver, the wisest man in this society, bore the burden of holding all historic memories that might cause emotion – protecting the people it would seem, from disruptive truths. Predictably, this utopian notion eventually fell apart. As the saying goes, “better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” Emotions give truth its vigor.

• What words did you consider and not include? Any that you thought of later or have been told you should have included? 

Davis: People kept saying “spiritual,” but I was always adamant that spiritual is not a loaded word. Spiritual is a softball word that we’ve come to use in the culture to mean we aren’t opposed to the idea of some sort of supernatural power, and it could be God, and yes, we would certainly want him on our side if it came to that, but we don’t believe we should define it too rigidly, and we don’t really practice or pursue it in any significant way. No one cringes when you use the word spiritual, which is why people use it. When we talked to pastors early on they all assumed we were going to write about words like “sanctification” and “justification” but those aren’t loaded words either. No one in the culture has any idea what those words are so they certainly don’t cause them any grief or confusion. 

• Give me an example of how you unload words in daily life…

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Leann Luchinger reflects that, "We Christians have to reclaim the Christian conversation, the Christian words, the expressions of our faith."

Davis: The Loaded Word that I unpack for people most often is Sin, because that’s what I did my thesis on. On Homo Incurvatus in Se—Man Turned in on Himself—as and entry point for the discussion of sin in the 21st Century. When I speak on the subject, I use my hands a lot to describe how we get when we are turned in on ourselves and how this connects to our modern day enslavements—anxiety, depression, a disordered relationship to technology, a broken sense of vocation/purpose. I can see people in the audience physically mirroring what I’m doing, and so I know the ideas are really resonating with them in a profound way. Icktank Press is actually publishing the thesis work now so it can be more readily available to people. Man Turned in on Himself: Understanding Sin in the 21st Century will be out by the first of the year. 

Luchinger: I recently spoke for a mom’s group and connected the time and care we put into teaching our children about our favorite sports teams to the time and care we need to give to their Christian faith. When our children are small, we dress them in jerseys and teach them to join us on the couch for the “big game.” We teach them about field positions, top players, strategy, who to root for and who to boo. We discuss and debate and learn and grow in sports appreciation. And as our children grow, they “own” their own version of fanaticism for the team. They root for the family team, they debate with their friends, decide which strategies and players they like best. Isn’t this how it should be with Christianity? When they are young we nurture and teach, as they grow we dialogue, debate and discuss – all so that our children can go out into the world and “own” their faith.

• How did working together as co-authors make this book better? What were some of the challenges? 

Davis: The strength in the book is absolutely rooted in the partnership and the hundreds of hours of conversations we’ve had about these words, orthodox theology, and the challenges of translation/communication. We aimed to put forth positions that were “clean” theologically, but also “clean” of connection to any particular political/social agenda. We both feel that this type of “noise” has been highly detrimental to the faith. 

Luchinger: Heather and I both have our specialties – or gifting – in the area of research and writing. We like to explain it this way: “Heather is the Poet, Leann is the Farmer.” I like to dig, and uncover, and mine for the original context and meaning of the words. The research drives me. Once I was satisfied that I had a strong sense of a word, or at least a good notion of how thoughtful theologians were unpacking the meaning, I would send my research to Heather and we would dialogue about threads and directions. Sometimes when things got sticky, or I thought we’d lost our way, I would go back to research a bit more to see if I could find just the right theological explanation or phrase to help us out. It is interesting, every time we really got stuck or disagreed about direction, the chapters seemed to get better.