As journalists struggle to get a handle on this genre- and culture-bending mashup, RD associate editor Hussein Rashid gets right to the source.
His first book, The Taqwacores, was xeroxed and spiral-bound, but it struck a loud punk-inflected chord in a community of mostly-Islamic youth trying to reconcile music and religion.
The Tebow family are in the missionary business, and the ad they produced for Focus on the Family used their son’s football stardom to good effect. But what were they really selling?
More on the sci-fi TV show that imagines monotheists rebelling against a polytheist society, speculates about the nature of the human soul, and asks, “Can you be free if you’re not real?”
When “expert” analysis of a sweat lodge ritual comes from outsiders, we have to wonder what "expert" means.
Yearning For A God We Can Live With
Two new books, one offering a vision of interfaith, universal religion, the other a model of a radically transformed Judaism, attempt to wrestle God into the everyday. Against the ascendancy of the so-called New Atheism, both writers argue for a God who transcends “god-management systems” and whose primary claim on us is through our own spiritual longing.
Excerpt: The Christian Roots of Zionism
20th century Jewish aspirations for a revived national home were supported by three centuries of Christian enthusiasm—bolstered by biblical literalism—for the return of the Jews to "their land." In this excerpt from the newly-released Zeal for Zion, Shalom Goldman traces the Christian roots of Zionism.
Monks With Guns: Discovering Buddhist Violence
The co-editor of a new book on the history of Buddhist violence and warfare explains how the notion of a purely mystical and otherworldly Buddhism—promoted by some of the great interpreters of the tradition—denies its adherents’ humanity.
What the Danish Cartoon Controversy Tells Us About Religion, the Secular, and the Limits of the Law
A new book by four leading intellectuals (Talal Asad, Judith Butler, Saba Mahmood, and Wendy Brown) brings attention to the ongoing failures of the Euro-American liberal legal order in the face of the conflict between religious and secular values—and in doing so puts those very categories into question.
We’re working hard, burning that birthday candle at both ends, but we wanted to stop, take note, and say thank you to our readers and our writers, and to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone.
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