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Current Events

Essays

In The Aftermath Of Las Vegas – “Ambitechnics”, Or Explaining Events That Defy Explanation (Jeff Appel And Benjamin Peters)
Considering The Real Price Of War, Even With North Korea (Daniel A. Morris)
The Irony Of Environmental History (David Barr and Jeremy Sabella)
A Roundup Of Statements Of American Religious Leaders On Charlottesville
Locked and Loaded For North Korea – Han Shot First, John Wayne Would Not Have (Jackie Turvey Tait and Tobias Winright)
When Religion Defeated The State – Max Weber And The Al-Aqsa Crisis Of 2017 (Robert O. Smith)
Is The Global Prestige Of Sanskrit Aiding And Abetting Hindu Nationalists And Supremacists? (Patrick McCartney)
Glasnost American Style – Is Russia Working To Destabilize The US Despite Donald Trump? (Martin Katchen)
Yoga Practitioners And The Unspoken Global Aspirations Of Indian Ethno-Nationalism (Patrick McCartney)
A New “Kairos” For South Africa? (Stephen W. Martin)
Withdrawal From Paris Accords Reflects A “Theopolitics” Of American Exceptionalism (Michael Hogue)
Normalizing And Politicizing “Islamophobia” (Andrea Stanton, G. Carole Woodall)
Christian Politics and the Erosion of International Trust (Daniel A. Morris)
Ramadan Becomes Religiously Contentious Issue For Congress (Andrea Stanton)
Manchester Attack Prompts Us To Refine Our Vocabulary About Terrorism (Andrea Stanton)
Donald Trump’s Trips Abroad And America’s Refracted “Nervous System” (Roger Green)
Bombs And Moms – DuBois’ Challenge To America’s Racist And Militarist Legacy (Roger Green)
Video Visitation In Prisons Violates Not Just Peoples’ Rights But Natural Law (Greg Williams)
There Are Advantages To Knowing Your Limits In Making A Difference For Non-Tenure Track Colleagues (Russell McCutcheon)
Remembering Honduran Indigenous Leader Berta Cáceres On The Anniversary Of Her Assassination (Ryne Beddard)
Trump Executive Order Highlights American Muslim Communities’ Coming of Age (Andrea Stanton)
The Trump Era And Its Discontents (Erick da Silva)
Indifference To Voting Rights Betrays Our Privilege And Self-Deception (Rebekah Miles)
MLK Day And The Emergence Of The New “Sacred Politics” (Vincent Lloyd)
How To Do Things Better With Words In An Era Of Political Polarization (Jake Myers)
The 2016 Presidential Election And The Irony Of Postmodern History (Kevin Carnahan)
Being Decisive Without Being Divisive Amid The Zig-Zags Of History (William Yoo)
From Transactional To “Liturgical” Politics (John Senior)
What Is Steve Bannon’s Strategic Vision For The New Administration? (Ronald Beiner)
From Hope To A Revolution Of Love (Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty)
Politics May Be Local, But Outrage Is Universal (Mark Douglas)
Are Calls For “Sanctuaries” Well-Intentioned Masks For A Neoliberal Agenda? (Roger Green)
The Contradictions of “Whiteness” In Richard Spencer’s Alt-Right Universe (Timothy McGee)
Beyond Globalism And Ethno-Nationalism – Glimpsing A Radical New Kind Of “Universalism” (Carl Raschke)
What Comes After Trump’s Election? “Religious Anarchism”? (Jeff Appel)
What Has Postmodernity Wrought? Donald Trump (Kevin Carnahan)
The Bad News For Election Day? Someone Will Be Elected President (Carl Raschke)
You Are Invited To Political Theology Bash At The AAR Meeting in San Antonio
Dakota Pipeline Conflict Shows Political Theology Must Take Indigenous Spirituality Seriously (Roger Green)
Seeking Contributions and Contributors To POLITICAL THEOLOGY TODAY
Announcement – Political Theology Vol. 17, Issue 6 Is Now Available
Ashoura Holiday Highlights Sectarian Tensions Among Muslims In Middle East (Andrea Stanton)
The American Presidential Debates Mask A Divisive “Deep Politics” To Which We Remain Blissfully Oblivious (Carl Raschke)
Applying Just War Theory To Community Policing (Nathaniel Grimes)
Organizing Grad Students – Joining A Union As A Moral And Religious Obligation (Greg Williams)
Does The 2016 Election Mark The End Of White Christian America? (Nancy Wadsworth)
Flashback – What Is The “Alt-Right”? (Joshua Ramos)
Suspicions That Trump Is “Unwitting” Agent Of Putin And Russia Are Overblown (Edwin Bacon)
South African Political Unrest And The New Activism Of The Churches – A Tale Of Three Hashtags (Stephen Martin)
Why Do So Many Evangelicals Support Donald Trump? (Ludger Viefhues-Bailey)
Turkish President Erdogan Needs To Consult The Qur’an On Restorative Justice (A. Rashied Omar)
Facebook Not A Happy Medium After Recent Tragedies – 10 Tips For More Productive Conversations (Todd Littleton)
Announcement – Political Theology Today Now Has Facebook Discussion Group
Removing the “Penance” In Penitentiaries – Toward A Political Theology Of The Carceral State (Greg Williams)
Brexit Crisis Is Reminder Of Catholic Commitment To European Union (Kevin Ahern)
Brexit Confirms Some Of Plato’s Cautions (Ronald Beiner)
Perhaps There Is “One Thing” To Explain Orlando – Ourselves (Alan Jay Richard)
Announcing New And Forthcoming Books In Political Theology
Orlando Slaughter Due Neither To Mass Killing Nor Terrorism But To America’s False Masculinity And Imperial Policies (Ludger Viefhues-Bailey)
The Trump Phenomenon Is Worldwide And Is Driven By Social Media (Joshua Ramos)
Pope Francis Makes Moves Toward Amity With Islam (Andrea Stanton)
Pope Francis’ “Inclusive” European Humanism – Frantz Fanon Might Have Something To Say About That! (Timothy McGee)
Donald Trump and the “Evangelical Vote”- So What? (D. Mark Davis)
North Carolina’s Bathroom Bill Is Not So Much About “Common Sense” As Religious Identity (Hollis Phelps)
Bill Maher’s Proposal To Tax Religion Might Also Preserve The Status Quo (David Ensign)
Complexity of Faith-Related Cases Demands More Religious Diversity on the Supreme Court
Why the Secular Left Seems Increasingly To Sympathize With Islamists
Rodeo in the Rain – American Politics and Religion in the 2016 Presidential Race
The 2016 Election As A Vote of No-Confidence for Neo-Liberalism
Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in Presidential Election Coincides With Mobilization of Muslim Voters
Mr. Obama, Tear Down This Wall – The Meaning of Pope Francis’ Visit To The Border
The Greek Rhetorical Concept of “Parrhesia” As Theological Key To A Renewed Democracy
What Would Derrida Do About The Incidents in Cologne?
Controversy Over Whether Christians and Muslims Worship “Same God” Puts Public Image of Evangelical Higher Ed To Test
The Fashionable New Global Fascism – Do We Deny The Deeper Meaning of the ISIS Attacks At Our Own Peril?
Decoding ISIS – How Salafism, Our Close Relationship to the Saudis, and Middle Eastern Demography Gave Us Perpetual Jihad
QUICK TAKES – Are The Paris Attacks A “Game Changer” For The West And The Islamic World?
Anti-Extremism and Its Discontents – Why David Cameron’s Policies Should Worry Us
Are Conservatives In Their Pushback Against Pope Francis The New “Cafeteria Catholics”?
The Bloody Altar of Liberty – How Much Gun Violence Before We Change The Laws?
Damage Done? Another Look at Kim Davis and the Pope
The Hajj Stampede Is Nothing New, But Raises Questions About The Future of Muslim Pilgrimage
The Migrant Crisis – Time For An “Instability Tax”?
QUICK TAKES – The Legality and Larger Meaning of Kentucky Clerk’s Refusal To Issue Marriage Licenses For LGBT Couples
Debate Over Iran Nuclear Accord Should Focus On Outcomes Rather Than The Deal Itself
European Refugee Crisis Challenges Continent’s Most Hallowed Principles and Values
QUICK TAKES – If We Raise the Christian Flag Above Old Glory, What Does That Really Imply?
Vatican Palestinian Pact and Environmental Encyclical Signal New Alliance with UN – And Break With US
QUICK TAKES – Saudi Blogger’s 1000 Lashes Is Less About Religion and More About “State Terror”
“Rhodes Must Fall” – Monuments, Colonialism, and The South African Controversy Over Preserving the Past
The Sultan of Brunei and the Effects of Sharia Law in Southeast Asia
QUICK TAKES – Is American Christianity Really in Decline, or Is It Just Undergoing a Makeover?
Desecrating the Flag vs. Desecrating the Prophet – How to Prevent Liberalism From Becoming Its Own Worst Enemy
QUICK TAKES – Struggling for A Deeper Understanding of What Racial Justice Means After Baltimore

In this week’s edition of QUICK TAKES, we take a hard look at the race crisis in America in light of the death of Freddie Gray and the turmoil in Baltimore. We posed the following questions to our contributors: What do the seemingly regular reports of deaths of young black men at the hands of police officers as well as the resulting protests tell us about the conditions of race and race relations today?

QUICK TAKES – How Will The Iranian Nuclear Framework Affect The Religious As Well As The Political Power Balance in the Middle East?
QUICK TAKES – Do the New State “Religious Freedom” Laws Ensure Such Freedoms, or Only A License to Discriminate?
QUICK TAKES – What is the “Takeaway” From Last Week’s Israeli Elections?
QUICK TAKES – Why The New Growing Global Anti-Semitism?
QUICK TAKES – Should We in the West Make An Effort Not to Insult Other People’s Religions?
QUICK TAKES – Do the Conflicts in the Middle East Signal A New Global “War of Religions?

This past week, especially in light of the Copenhagen shootings, commentary about the White House summit on combatting “extremism,” and the publication of a controversial article in the magazine The Atlantic by one of its editors on ISIS, the big question in the news right now seems to be: “do the conflicts in Middle East mean we are fighting a global ‘war of religion(s),’ or at least a war with, as well as within, Islam?”