God On The Grounds

Free-thinking Thomas Jefferson established the University of Virginia as a secular institution and stipulated that the University should not provide any instruction in religion. Yet over the course of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth, religion came to have a prominent place in the University, which today maintains the largest department of religious studies of any public university in America. Given his intentions, how did Jefferson's university undergo such remarkable transformations? In God on the Grounds, esteemed religious studies scholar Harry Gamble offers the first history of religion’s remarkably large role—both in practice and in study—at UVA. Jefferson’s own reputation as a religious skeptic and infidel was a heavy liability to the University, which was widely regarded as injurious to the faith and morals of its students. Consequently, the faculty and Board of Visitors were eager throughout the nineteenth century to make the University more religious. Gamble narrates the early, rapid, and ongoing introduction of religion into the University’s life through the piety of professors, the creation of the chaplaincy, the growth of the YMCA, the multiplication of religious services and meetings, the building of a chapel, and the establishment of a Bible lectureship and a School of Biblical History and Literature. He then looks at how—only in the mid-twentieth century—the University began to retreat from its religious entanglements and reclaim its secular character as a public institution. A vital contribution to the institutional history of UVA, God on the Grounds sheds light on the history of higher education in the United States, American religious history, and the development of religious studies as an academic discipline.

A Jesuit priest recounts his experiences working among firefighters, rescue workers, and police officers at Ground Zero during the weeks following September 11, 2001 and tells of the hope, grace, and charity he found in those who suffered and in those who worked to console.

Despite three decades of scientists' warnings and environmentalists' best efforts, the political will and public engagement necessary to fuel robust action on global climate change remain in short supply. Katharine K. Wilkinson shows that, contrary to popular expectations, faith-based efforts are emerging and strengthening to address this problem. In the US, perhaps none is more significant than evangelical climate care. Drawing on extensive focus group and textual research and interviews, Between God & Green explores the phenomenon of climate care, from its historical roots and theological grounding to its visionary leaders and advocacy initiatives. Wilkinson examines the movement's reception within the broader evangelical community, from pew to pulpit. She shows that by engaging with climate change as a matter of private faith and public life, leaders of the movement challenge traditional boundaries of the evangelical agenda, partisan politics, and established alliances and hostilities. These leaders view sea-level rise as a moral calamity, lobby for legislation written on both sides of the aisle, and partner with atheist scientists. Wilkinson reveals how evangelical environmentalists are reshaping not only the landscape of American climate action, but the contours of their own religious community. Though the movement faces complex challenges, climate care leaders continue to leverage evangelicalism's size, dominance, cultural position, ethical resources, and mechanisms of communication to further their cause to bridge God and green.

In discussions of Paul's letters, muchattention has been devoted to statements that closely identify Christ withIsrael's God (i.e., 1 Cor 8:6). However, in Rom 3:30 and Gal 3:20, Paul usesthe phrase "God is one" to link Israel's monotheistic confession and theinclusion of the Gentiles in the people of God. Therefore, this study tracesthe OT and early Jewish backgrounds of the phrase "God is one" andtheir possible links to Gentile inclusion. Following this, Christopher Brunoexamines the two key Pauline texts that link the confession of God as one withthe inclusion of the Gentiles. Bruno observes a significant discontinuitybetween the consistent OT and Jewish interpretations of the phrase and Paul'suse of "God is one" in relation to the Gentiles. In the both the OT and earlyJewish literature, the phrase functions as a boundary marker of sorts,distinguishing the covenant people and the Gentiles. The key exception to thispattern is Zech 14:9, which anticipates the confession of God as one expandingto the nations. Similarly, in Romans and Galatians, the phrase is not aboundary marker, but rather grounds the unity of Jew and Gentile. The contextand arguments in Rom 3:30 and Gal 3:20 lead to the conclusion that Paul'smonotheism must now be understood in light of the Christ event; moreover, Zech14:9 may play a significant role in the link between Paul's eschatologicalmonotheism and his argument for the inclusion of the Gentiles in Romans andGalatians.

These fascinating articles and lectures by Paul Tillich have never been reprinted from their original publications over half a century ago. They shed much light on Tillich's own thinking as well as that of Luther and Calvin, Bultmann, Kierkegaard, and others. He explores the nature of religious symbols, Christian Socialism, and the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Students and clergy brought up on today's thin theological gruel will be amazed at what they have missed!

This is the spiritual memoir of Curt Sewell, one of the many technicians and scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project and who viewed the first atomic blast, an experience which burned away his indifference toward God.