(OPINION) Prohibition, as you’ve probably heard it, was the age of insanity, when a bunch of sanctimonious busybodies briefly cast the country into chaos, thirst and violence by trying to ban liquor … and fun itself. But there’s a big problem with that trope: as Schrad establishes, hardly any of the conventional wisdom is true.
Read MoreIn July, after five years of work, Father Francesco Patton inaugurated the multimedia exhibition “The Experience of Resurrection,” housed at the Franciscans’ Christian Information Center located inside the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. The 656-square-foot installation, spread over six rooms, takes 40 minutes to view.
Read More(REVIEW) Author Tom Holland does not write about the life of Jesus and never deals with the Resurrection narratives, but they were vital to the rise of Christianity, and Holland’s refusal to understand this most central aspect of Christianity is where “Dominion” misses the point from the very beginning. The book only engages with Jesus as an uncanny character unique in world literature who happened to start a religion that was systematized by the Paul of Tarsus.
Read More(COMMENTARY) While it's common to believe that religion evolves slowly over time, in a linear manner, the evidence suggests that history lurches through periods of "extreme, rapid, revolutionary change, when everything is shaken and thrown up into the air," said historian Philip Jenkins. Ever 50 years or so, new patterns and cultural norms seem to appear that never could have been predicted.
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