In 1525, Martin Luther addressed the peasants of Swabia who were protesting (and rioting) in response to unjust government. Was his response reasonable, or did it sacrifice justice for order? Thinking through the issues involved is a valuable way to consider what our response might be to civil unrest today. Here is Part 2 of our three-part series on the Peasants’ War and protests today.
Seeing Clearly & Deeply
No Justice, No Peace?
E. J. Hutchinson
In 1525, Martin Luther addressed the peasants of Swabia who were protesting (and rioting) in response to unjust government. Was his response reasonable, or did it sacrifice justice for order? Thinking through the issues involved is a valuable way to consider what our response might be to civil unrest today. Start here with Part 1 of our three-part series on the Peasants’ War and protests today.
Reading While Black
David Emmanuel Goatley
Black people often do not fit easily into popular Western European or North American paradigms. Widely accepted patterns of thought and being have for too long now been conceived and constructed by those who presume their particular worldviews to be normative for all....
Deepening the Interwoven Life
Sarah Hemminger
A few years ago my father and I were in an argument and he said to me, “You are like the sun. Beautiful. Warm. Necessary for life. But up close your intense energy and heat are deadly.” I admit that I am a person of intense energy. For much of my life that energy has...
Solidarity in Forgiveness
Peter Mommsen
Pandemics, whatever else they do, show us we are not alone. “No man is an island,” runs the much-quoted John Donne line, and that never seems truer than when you’re trying to be an island and failing: not keeping six feet of distance when meeting a friend, fighting to...
Fatherhood in the Mourning Time
J.L. Wall
A new father, his daughter’s surgery delayed by COVID, experiences the limits of his own power to protect those he loves. The poetry of Robert Hayden provides a counterpoint to the rhythms of the Jewish liturgical year as he seeks to live in faith.
Reorienting the Locus of Value
Anne Snyder
I’ve often wondered if there’s a mathematics to human agency. Certain correlations are familiar: x income level in y region will qualify you to feel “financial freedom”; the amount of social capital you have will implicate the security you feel in choosing a given job...
The Home Is the School
Mary Townsend
Is Aristotle a person, or is he a subject that you study?” This is a question from my youngest son, a star, a tap-dancer, almost eight, standing beside me in our living room as I conduct a Zoom class for my undergraduates. He’s become proficient at Zoom over the last...
What is Community?
Seth Kaplan
Community as an ideal gets thrown around a lot these days, but fewer and fewer are experiencing it. It tends to get conflated with “sense of community,” which can emanate from friendships and certain kinds of social networks, the experience of working with a dedicated...
Work After the Pandemic
Heather Zeiger
For many Americans work is the be-all and end-all. The pandemic has forced us to come face-to-face with our dysfunctional relationship with work and in the process re-introduced many of us to the idea of leisure.