Drill, baby, drill: Noahโ€™s Ark, fundamentalist faith, and the search for evidence

The Durupฤฑnar site on the border between Tรผrkiye and Iran, showing the structure claimed to be Noah's Ark, in 2007. By Rod Benson According to the Book of Genesis, Noahโ€™s Ark once saved the worldโ€™s animals from extinction. Today, in the latest of many archaeological expeditions to the region, a dry sonic core drill is …

Fiction and the language of power

Who gets to name the world? By Rod Benson Imagine a government announcing that it will โ€œright-sizeโ€ a service. The phrase sounds responsible, yet tells us little. Will people lose their jobs? Will a hospital close? Who decided what the โ€œrightโ€ size is? The wording has not concealed every fact, but it has delayed the …

The future of public theology

Francis Hoyland, The Life of Christ 71: Christ foretells the destruction of the Temple The case for ecumenical collaboration and engagement By Rod Benson Public theology has a future wherever Christians take responsibility for the public consequences of their faith. Its task is to bring theological convictions into critical conversation with the institutions, practices and …

Selective compassion:ย How would Jesus respond?

Ed Sheeran By Rod Benson The controversy surrounding Macklemoreโ€™s removal from Ed Sheeranโ€™s tour eventually reaches a question deeper than celebrity politics: can compassion remain morally credible when it becomes selective? Public culture is saturated with the language of kindness, inclusion, empathy and love. Yet those virtues are tested not when they are universally applauded …

When artists speak:ย Moral responsibility and the limits of celebrity activism

Ed Sheeran and Macklemore. Image Credit: Christopher Polk By Rod Benson If artists possess the freedom to address political questions, what responsibilities accompany that freedom? The dispute surrounding Macklemoreโ€™s removal from Ed Sheeranโ€™s American tour illustrates why the answer cannot simply be that celebrities should speak whenever they possess strong convictions. Public platforms magnify both …