Items included on this page come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
Looking Back: Tim O’Brien — This 4 min video clip offers a brief summary of Supreme Court religion cases over the past few decades with attention to swing votes and court reversals. Useful for gaining an overview of the decisions and directions of the Court.
Keep Asking (Good) Questions and Tricks to Writing Surveys On Theology: When you are comparing two studies that appear to say two different things, take a closer look at the survey questions. The exact wording of that question is going to be your best ammunition because a lot of times if people are comparing two […]
The Catholic Schools Saved by Vouchers: In Milwaukee, Catholic churches have kept their schools alive with the help of vouchers. A National Bureau of Economic Research working paper explains that vouchers actually staved off imminent school closures in Milwaukee, though they did not improve the church’s overall finances. The research shows that vouchers can both help and hurt […]
The roots and branches of the sanctuary movement: An interview with the leader of the Welcoming Congregations/Guardian Angels Network in southern California. Students can use the content to begin a wider study of history, positions, and documents in this two-kingdoms issue.
How Does Catholic Identity Affect Hookup Culture? — “Hooking Up at College: Does Religion Make a Difference?” (2009), found that hooking up was more frequent among students who identified as Catholic. For Faith with Benefits: Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses (Oxford University Press. 2017), I surveyed more campuses and more diverse campuses than all the previous studies […]
Conflict Resolution in Public Schools: This 7 min. video clip reports on conflict resolution circles, a practice rooted in Quaker, Mennonite and North American Indian beliefs, and visits two Kansas schools that use circles to try to end the revolving door of suspension and expulsion of students. Teachers say they hope students will take the peace-making […]
Can We Trust Science? — We are sometimes asked, “Do you believe in science?” Upon reflection, this question is a bit puzzling, and its weasel word is “believe.” This article can assist students with teasing out some of the issues around the nature of science, belief, reliability, and other basic epistemological questions.
Daily Life May Collide with Law: Why do so many religions care what believers wear? — Students can use this brief article from Richard Ostling to consider the many cultural textures about religion and the textiles we wear: sociology; rites, ceremonies, and liturgies; social psychology; anthropology; and neuroscience.
Assessing the Faith-Based Response to Homelessness in America: Findings From Eleven Cities — From the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, the report was undertaken to provide an estimate of the impact, socially and economically, of FBOs in eleven cities across the country in responding to homelessness. Almost 60% of the Emergency Shelter Beds, what many […]
America’s Fighting Faith: The writer examines American civil religion and its influence on American foreign policy as these themes are related in the book, The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest by Walter A. McDougall (Yale University Press, 2016). “Civil religion may once have described a kind of ecumenism. It now means […]
