The Godless Sex Radicals of the Kansas Plains
One of the biggest trends in American religious beliefs today is the rise of the “nones." In the 1880s, they might have called themselves freethinkers.
The Uncertain Future of the Religious Left
The aftermath of the 2016 U.S. election has renewed calls for an empowered coalition of religious liberals. Is there a place for the religious left?
A.K.M. Adam and Postmodern Biblical Studies
Welcome to Ask a Professor, our series that offers an insider’s view of life in academia. This month we interviewed A.K.M. Adam.
Why Martin Luther’s Body Type Mattered
Five hundred years after posting his ninety-five theses and launching the Reformation, Martin Luther remains a big man of history. Literally.
What Good Is Knowing the Bible?
Despite the high rates of religious adherence in the United States, fewer Americans are reading the Bible than at any point in history.
Eroticism and Religion in Utopia
Some 19th-century utopian idealists took up deeply unconventional sexual arrangements based specifically on their religious beliefs.
How Ancient Peoples Fed the Dead
4,000 years ago in what is now Jerusalem, someone was buried with a jar of headless toads. In fact, many ancient graves included food for the afterlife.
How Mormons Have Made Religion Out of Doubt
Because of its commitment to continuing revelation, Mormonism is replete with examples of individual doubt that have resulted in more, not less, religion.
Edith Stein, the Jewish Woman Who Became a Catholic Saint
In 1998, Pope John Paul II made one of his most contentious canonizations, elevating a Jewish woman named Edith Stein to the status of saint.