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Category Archives: Christianity
December 25, 2011
ESSAY
Christmas in Bethlehem, Nothing In Gaza
Last night something like 100,000 Christians from Israel, the West Bank and abroad celebrated a peaceful Christmas in Manger Square where the Church of the Nativity marks a spot long believed to be the actual place where Jesus was born. … Continue reading
December 23, 2011
ESSAY
Another Grim Christmas In The Middle East
Many Middle East Christians were initially optimistic that the changes sweeping through their region as part of the ‘Arab Spring’ protests would usher in a new era of tolerance. But as the Arab Spring has congealed into a cold and … Continue reading
December 20, 2011
ESSAY
The Missionaries Win: Christianity Becomes Global Religious Superpower
Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun Doth his successive journeys run; His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, Till moons shall wax and wane no more. That’s how an old missionary hymn begins, and it turns out the missionaries … Continue reading
December 11, 2011
ESSAY
Oldest Black Church Building In US Reopens After Repairs
The oldest purpose built house of African American Christian worship in the United States is the African Meeting House on Beacon Hill in Boston. Built by African American craftsmen in the early 19th century, the three story building opened for … Continue reading
December 5, 2011
ESSAY
Egypt’s Elections: No Surprises, No Certainties
Journalists who spent the last six months in Tahrir Square and talking to privileged, young western-educated Egyptians may have been surprised by the Islamist sweep in last week’s Egyptian elections, but few others were. The Muslim Brotherhood has been around … Continue reading
December 2, 2011
ESSAY
The Devil You Know: Syrian Christians Support Assad
Christians have not had a good time in the modern Middle East. Sadly, that doesn’t seem likely to change as Butcher Assad’s hold on Syria slowly slips. While Via Meadia is no fan of Iran-enabling tyrants who kill thousands of … Continue reading
November 28, 2011
ESSAY
NYT Slimes Romney
Here at Via Meadia, we have written extensively about how reports of impending American theocracy have been greatly exaggerated. Indeed, put into historical perspective, the religious forces acting upon American politics today are far gentler than those of generations past. But it appears that the New York Times remains unconvinced, as evidenced by a recent spate of alarmist editorials about the faith of Mitt Romney.
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ESSAY
Going My Way?
It might be a small change, but it affects a lot of people. Almost ten years after the Vatican issued a directive to make an English language missal which was more in tune with the original Latin, some Catholics are … Continue reading
November 27, 2011
ESSAY
Faith Matters Sunday: The Jewish Discovery of Jesus
Years ago I had some friends in a klezmer band in New Orleans; one of the members of the band was an African American musician whose church was so taken with the music that they wanted to produce a klezmer gospel album. This unfortunately never happened, but something almost as remarkable has just been published by Oxford University Press: The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Under the editorship of Vanderbilt professor Amy-Jill Levine and Brandeis professor Marc Zvi Brettler, this edition of the Christian scriptures features commentary and annotation from prominent Jewish scholars who have analyzed the text and the concepts in it based on their own knowledge of Jewish history and thought. The New York Times has the story.
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November 4, 2011
ESSAY
Apocalypse Watch: Ireland Closes Vatican Embassy, UK To Allow Catholic Royals
The very Catholic Republic of Ireland—also known as the Island of Saints and Scholars, where abortion remains illegal and more than 30% of the people go to mass more than once a week—has decided to close its embassy to the … Continue reading
October 31, 2011
ESSAY
Did the Koran Make Them Do It on 9/11?
No, says Philip Jenkins, one of the world’s most serious and best respected students of Christian history. Jenkins has chronicled as few others the story of Middle Eastern persecution and suppression of Christianity; his analysis of the relationship of modern … Continue reading
October 12, 2011
ESSAY
Arab Spring Leads to Second Exodus
As a horrified world watched coverage of Christian demonstrators dying at the hands of Egyptian soldiers this week, it underlined the possibility that the Arab Spring might permanently change Egypt after all. Coptic Christians, who have lived in the Land … Continue reading
October 2, 2011
ESSAY
Leftie German Philosopher Endorses God. Sort Of.
Via Meadia blog-sibling Religion and Other Curiosities by Peter Berger (one of the world’s greatest living sociologists) has a terrific post on German philosopher Jürgen Habermas’ recently discovered respect for Judeo-Christian religion. The intellectual leader of the modern European center-left … Continue reading
September 27, 2011
ESSAY
Religious Tolerance In Egypt’s Al-Azhar University
Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the head of one of the most important centers of learning in the Islamic world, wrote a remarkably tolerant article in the Egyptian government daily newspaper Al-Ahram back in June. Translated excerpts of the article recently … Continue reading
September 25, 2011
ESSAY
Report From The Middle East: Part One
I’ve just come back from a week of teaching, lecturing and conversation in Israel and the West Bank, and nothing I saw there has led me to change my basic view of the situation. Peace is not at hand in the Middle East because neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are really willing to accept the only kind of peace they can get.
The only real peace now possible is one in which Palestinians become an independent nation on most of the West Bank and Gaza with “swaps” of land (probably in the Negev) to compensate for land annexed to Israel. Most of historical Jerusalem will go to Israel; Palestinians will get a few scraps of the historical city with some sort of arrangement to cover the Islamic holy places and suburban developments that can more or less plausibly be called Jerusalem. (This is more or less what the Israelis had until 1967 on the western side of historical Jerusalem, though Jews were banned from visiting their holy places.) A few family reunifications may be possible and a handful of aged refugees may go back to pre-1967 Israel, but otherwise there will be no literal “right of return”. There may be some compensation and large amounts of foreign aid will be committed to the new state.
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