Christianity

Michael Penn | Emir-Stein Center | Video Clip and Transcript | – If history matters, then getting right the history of the first encounters of the world’s two largest religions—Christianity and Islam—really matters. In this fascinating video, Prof. Michael Penn, the Teresa Hihn Moore Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University, sheds light on the […]

Buddhism

Sri Lanka’s Mainstream Muslims Caught in Nexis of Extreme Nationalisms and Fringe Radicalism

The Conversation

By Andreas Johansson | – More than 300 people have now been confirmed killed in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka. Several sources had suggested a domestic Muslim Islamist group may have been linked to the atrocity – but Islamic State (IS) has now also claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Muslim community is spread across the […]

Christianity

Why the Qur’an denied that Jews were Responsible for Jesus’ Death on Good Friday

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – That the Qur’an recognizes the virgin birth, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus is something worth remembering on Easter. In a nativity scene about Jesus’s supernatural precociousness, the Qur’an has him speak in the cradle, saying, (Mary 19:33): “So peace be upon me, the day I was born, and […]

Archaeology

Medieval Crusaders in Levant Married, Recruited Locals, DNA shows

contributors

News article by the Communications Team | – (Wellcome Sanger Institute) – Sanger Institute researchers have produced whole-genome sequences from skeletons discovered in a 13th Century burial pit in Sidon, Lebanon. The DNA sequences reveal that some of the dead were Crusaders, some were locals to the region, and some were decendents of mixed relationships […]

Christianity

Why Good Friday was Dangerous for Jews in the Middle Ages and how that Changed

The Conversation

By Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski | – As Christians observe Good Friday they will remember, with devotion and prayer, the death of Jesus on the Cross. It is a day of solemnity in which Christians give thanks for their salvation made possible by the suffering of Jesus. They prepare for rejoicing on Easter Sunday, when the resurrection […]

Christianity

Is the Southern Baptist Sexual Abuse Crisis rooted in Sexism?

The Conversation

By Susan M. Shaw | – Recent media reports have revealed decades of abuse by Southern Baptist pastors. Denominational leaders are offering apologies and calling the sexual abuse “evil,” “unjust” and a “barbarity of unrestrained sinful patterns.” Many Southern Baptist leaders are considering action. As a scholar who has written a book on Southern Baptist […]

Islam

Pope Francis, Muslim Rector of al-Azhar, Call for Religious Freedom & Full Citizenship

AFP

by Catherine Marciano with Rene Slama in Dubai | – Abu Dhabi (AF) – Pope Francis and a top Muslim cleric Monday issued a joint call for freedom of belief during the first visit by the head of the Catholic church to the birthplace of Islam — the Arabian Peninsula. Francis, who has made outreach […]

Assyrians

Middle East Christians, with the population of Sweden, Celebrate Christmas

Juan Cole

I do a column like this one from time to time, fighting back against the ‘veil of tears’ approach to the study of Middle Eastern Christians. Some have argued that Christianity is declining in the Middle East, and this allegation is certainly true in some ways and in some places. If Egyptian Christians declined from […]

Christianity

Arab Christmas Music Concert: Majida el Roumi (MTV Lebanon)

contributors

MTV | (Music Video) – MTV Lebanon: Majida el Roumi Christmas Concert