The Only Statement That Counts
for Yoshifugi In 1974 at an amazing conference was held at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York. Christians and Jews gathered to confront the question, “Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era?” Catholic theologians…
The Worthy Dispossessed
This past week saw much coverage and commentary on Israel’s “pull-out” from the Gaza Strip. It was only a matter of time, I thought, before Elie Wiesel would weigh in on this “historic” occasion. Now…
On Gaza
Dear Jennifer, Thank you for your brilliant piece I found on Counterpunch. I will share it with many friends here in St. Louis and beyond. You tell the truth about the Gaza pullout. I spent…
A Jewish Theology of Liberation
A review of Toward a Jewish Theology of Liberation, 3rd expanded edition, by Marc H. Ellis. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2004. First Published in the Journal of Palestine Studies (2005). At the 60th anniversary…
Prologue: Writing/1
I knew it was coming, but I just kept putting it off. When I was an undergraduate, I suffered from the debilitating condition of not being able to get very far on an assigned composition…
Long Live Hybridity
On Edward Said, Freud and the Non-European Introduction b Christopher Bollas Response by Jacqueline Rose Verso, 2003 In Jacqueline Rose’s eyes, Edward Said’s reading of Freud’s Moses and Monotheism is “[a] political parable, then,…
Dangerous Solidarity
This week, March 24, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of when El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was assassinated while celebrating Mass. A month before, he had sent a letter to then-president Jimmy Carter, imploring him to…
Being at the End of the Year: Reflections on Hope
For Andrew Wimmer Exuberance is Beauty. William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell[1] It’s been a rough year. Just considering the big picture, to think of Fallujah, Abu Ghraib, and Rafah, is enough…
Joyfully Together
One of the recommendations I have given some of my students who want to move in the direction of a deeper commitment to social justice after university studies is: Find and nurture a community. Without other…
In Gratitude for Howard Zinn
The other night at the Webster University Film Series, I saw the documentary-tribute: Howard Zinn: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. It is an inspirational portrait of a working-class Jewish man who served…