This is the third installment in my “Big Idea Syllabus” series inspired by Dr. Michael Wesch’s “Big Idea” Syllabus for Anthropology. My “Big Idea” Syllabus for History can be found here, for Writing here. The “Big Idea” Syllabus for Gender Studies follows. Gender is an important, valid field of inquiry, and because women and gender-nonconformingContinue reading “The “Big Idea” Gender Studies Syllabus”
Tag Archives: religion
I’m an Ordained Minister.
In my Secularisms and Atheisms class, students are reading Living the Secular Life. In one place, the author talks about the Universal Life Church that allows people to easily become ordained. Curious, I Googled “Universal Life Church.” The website asks people to give their name, email address, country, and state. With this and a confirmationContinue reading “I’m an Ordained Minister.”
Waiting Room Conversations
I just wanted to make a brief post about an interesting waiting room conversation I overheard while at M.D. Anderson recently. An older White man was talking with another older White man and said: Trump has done what he can but the rapture is still coming soon. If Hillary had been elected, it would haveContinue reading “Waiting Room Conversations”
Notes on: What is Religion?
Often, people don’t recognize how multifaceted the answers are to “what is religion?,” “what are the sources of theologies,” “what are the components of theologies?” Talking about Christianity, the Bible is often seen as the theological source. By recognizing how the associated histories and theologies, as well as how the Bible is far from the onlyContinue reading “Notes on: What is Religion?”
Women, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Rhetoric of Implied Exclusion
According to written artifacts, Baptist women faced degrees of formal silence for the first time in 2000. Church leaders decreed: While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. This new rule points to “texts of terror” (see Phyllis Trible, forContinue reading “Women, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Rhetoric of Implied Exclusion”
Privilege, Erasure, Cognitive Dissonance
Privilege. Erasure. Cognitive Dissonance. These are just some of the big ideas bouncing around my Frontal Lobe this week. I have three thoughts in particular that I want to share in this article. 1. An under-recognized form of privilege is having a name that can immediately be pronounced correctly, not just by other people but byContinue reading “Privilege, Erasure, Cognitive Dissonance”
Very Brief Thoughts: Easter and Theology
Think how much different (and more powerful) Christian celebrations of Easter would be if mainstream theology embraced all aspects of this ritual. This ritual—partially and selectively and without historicism—celebrates and mourns a person-deity, while manifesting erasure when it comes to the poor, unwanted, immigrant, and Black status of this person-deity, erasure manifested from and perpetuatedContinue reading “Very Brief Thoughts: Easter and Theology”
The Constitution as a Religious Document? – Hidden Power of Words Series, #29
Scholars generally praise the Constitution of the United States (Bill of Rights included) because it does not mention a God or otherwise include Christianity. Historians add that this is a further indication, in concert with other founding texts, that the Founding Fathers did not establish (or long for) a so-called Christian Nation. These men wereContinue reading “The Constitution as a Religious Document? – Hidden Power of Words Series, #29”
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 