The words ldquo messiah rdquo and ldquo messianism rdquo are often used loosely not only in popular culture but also in religious discourse even in biblical scholarship This magisterial study of these terms in the Bible and related ancient sources by a premier biblical scholar of our time brin

Stephen Prothero a historian of American religion and the author of a much acclaimed earlier volume American Jesus takes his cue for his title from E D Hirsch rsquo s 1987 volume Cultural Literacy What Every American Needs to Know Prothero addresses a huge paradox America is very religious b

Last fall hearing Bob Dylan 8217 s 1975 song Shelter From the Storm on the radio several times brought to mind a student from around that time who had written an outstanding paper with that title using the words of Dylan 8217 s song to shape an interpretation of Gnosticism So I searched for th

Are the culture wars of the last two decades a bogus conflict Do the debates about abortion gender sexuality and aesthetics amount to a series of shadowboxing matches Intellectuals appear increasingly divided For some they 8217 re a genuine combat for others they 8217 re something for the

Where is the solution manual Nearly a quarter-century ago when I first taught Business and Public Issues in a large state university an undergraduate accounting student came to see me The class had just discussed a case that described a difficult ethical dilemma Not surprisingly there was no e

For years I have stared at the five published volumes over 2 100 pages of Thomas Merton rsquo s letters arranged neatly on a shelf in my Merton collection and wondered if I would ever have time to work through them Occasionally I opened a volume to check a reference but the massive collection of