This paper examines the collaborative project to preserve and interpret Har Hasetim, the Gladwyne Jewish Memorial Cemetery. In fall 2015, Villanova University professor Craig Bailey approached the Friends of the Cemetery, an organization affiliated with the local Beth David Reform Congregation, about jointly restoring Har Hasetim. The ensuing…[Read more]

This chapter presents a comparative analysis of four Lebanese films in order to understand how they portray Muslim and Christian coexistence in midst of war.

This is the fifth episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his theology of prayer through select excerpts from his work “Life Together”. The complete five-part series includes a theology of prayer in the works of: Saint Augustine, Saint Francis of…[Read more]

This is the fourth episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Jonathan Edwards and his theology of prayer as seen in both an essay he authored as well as a sermon, “The Most High, A Prayer Hearing God” preached in 1735. The complete five-part series includes a theology of…[Read more]

This is the third episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Martin Luther and his theology of prayer from select excerpts of his Large Catechism and Small Catechism. The complete five-part series includes a theology of prayer in the works of: Saint Augustine, Saint Francis…[Read more]

This is the second episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Saint Francis of Assisi and includes his controversial “Prayer to Animals”, his “Creation Prayer”, as well as his own theological interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer. The complete five-part series includes a…[Read more]

This article explores the nature of remembering as a lake, with a lake, or through a lake; the differential relationships, knowledge, and perspectives contained within; and the potentially troubling implications found at the intersection of scientific and humanistic perspectives on lake being. It also reflects on the totalizing nature of assuming…[Read more]

This is the first episode of a five-part podcast series exploring the theology of prayer through a historic lens. The episode explores Saint Augustine’s work, known as “Letter 130” written in 412 A.D. to a Christian noblewoman on the subject of prayer. The complete five-part series includes a theology of prayer in the works of: Saint Augustine,…[Read more]

Review of said book.

This chapter focuses on Ezekiel as a text, i.e., a collection of writings meant to be read again and again. As a text, it presents a range of ideas in dialogue with one another—and sometimes in tension—thus providing ample space for continual discussion and reinterpretation of its ideas among its original communities of readers in antiquity. Eze…[Read more]

Public talk for International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden University (February 24, 2021) https://youtu.be/77oz4tb8r0Y How did Hindu devotees come to worship an Indian goddess in the ‘Chinese Way?’ What was allegedly Chinese about these rituals and how is this related to the goddess’s Buddhist origins? When did Hindus start to think of Ch…[Read more]

Public talk for International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden University (February 24, 2021) https://youtu.be/77oz4tb8r0Y How did Hindu devotees come to worship an Indian goddess in the ‘Chinese Way?’ What was allegedly Chinese about these rituals and how is this related to the goddess’s Buddhist origins? When did Hindus start to think of Ch…[Read more]

Pakistan’s religious leaders, ulama, have been put under significant strain in relation to how to deal with questions about the political tensions and violence over the past decade flowing from the Taliban’s role in the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The effects of this fraught environment on religious authority can be seen through the way…[Read more]

This paper discusses the issue of the relationship between theology and religious studies, drawing on certain principles of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s hermeneutical theory. Leaving aside differences between Gadamer and his critics, it is argued that his rehabilitation of prejudice, authority, and tradition as well as his notions of the fusion of…[Read more]

Though the ritual of fasting is common to most of the known religious traditions, its practice and symbolic value may vary considerably. This paper aims at a comparative study into the meaning and significance of this ritual with special reference to the three Semitic religions namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Some interesting similarities…[Read more]

This paper deals with the Sufi shaykh Haji Imdad Allah Muhajir Makki’s (1817-1899) efforts for conciliation of different strands of Muslim religious thought in the late nineteenth century with particular reference to his main work on this theme-a short treatise titled Faisalah-i Haft Mas’alah (literally: A Resolution of the Seven Controversies).…[Read more]

Religion, language, and race have been among the most crucial factors behind the formation of various national and communal identities in modern South Asian history. Just like the political division of British India, the complex interplay of these factors also culminated in a bifurcation of linguistic boundaries along the religious lines according…[Read more]

Three types of academic sources are crucial for understanding the Hindu tradition in our times: a) scriptures and the classical texts that are available mostly in Sanskrit b) works in the English language produced by orientalists, religious studies scholars, and some modern Hindu religious leaders themselves, and c) writings of…[Read more]

The traditional configuration of content on top and comments on the bottom on most websites often dismiss comments as of secondary importance to content. This article looks at how comment culture(s) in China operate outside of the top-bottom dichotomy where comments are increasingly supplanting content as the main form of consumable media. Through…[Read more]