Religion and Spirituality

Fetzer Institute Board Member, The Rev. Jennifer Bailey, Joins The Dan And Margaret Maddox Fund As Executive Director

meller — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 18:22:08 +0000

Fetzer Institute Board Member, The Rev. Jennifer Bailey, Joins The Dan And Margaret Maddox Fund As Executive Director meller Fri, 11/15/2024 - 13:22

United States, November 14, 2024 – The Fetzer Institute is pleased to announce that its beloved board member, Rev. Jennifer Bailey, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of The Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund. This addition brings a wealth of experience and a new vision for the Fund's initiatives, which align with the Institute's mission of fostering a more compassionate and connected world.

The Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund is a philanthropic foundation based in Nashville, Tennessee, that uses its grantmaking to improve the lives of young people and protect the natural environment in Middle Tennessee. In her new role, Rev. Bailey will oversee the foundation's vision and operations.

Prior to this role, Rev. Bailey served for a decade as the founding Executive Director for Faith Matters Network, an innovative Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually grounded leaders on their journey to healing themselves and their communities.

"While I'm excited for this next chapter, it's not easy to say goodbye," writes Rev. Bailey in an announcement to her Faith Matters Network colleagues about her departure. "Faith Matters Network has been home for me — a space we've nurtured together where those on the frontlines of justice can find rest, resilience, and renewal.”

In a separate announcement to The Dan and Margaret Maddox Fund Board of Directors, Rev. Bailey shared, “I am so honored to step into this role. Our focus on youth and the natural world is a public declaration of our unwavering commitment to building a better future and leaving this world better than we found it. […] I am so excited to help shape this next chapter of our work alongside our partners.”

Rev. Jen Bailey is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a public theologian, and a leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. She has been an Ashoka Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, and a Truman Scholar. She has served on the boards of the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund and was recently the chair of The Healing Trust board in Nashville.

Fetzer invites the community to extend their heartfelt congratulations to Rev. Bailey on this exciting new chapter!

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“Claiming a Role in the Search for a Meaningful Spirituality”

meller — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 17:48:32 +0000

“Claiming a Role in the Search for a Meaningful Spirituality” meller Mon, 07/15/2024 - 13:48

Note: The following interview appeared in the Summer 2024 issue of The Occasional Papers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. It is reproduced here in its entirety.

The world is becoming more abstract all the time. In the following interview, the Fetzer Institute’s Senior Program Officer, Mohammed Hamid Mohammed, addresses the challenges of finding meaningful spirituality in an abstract world. From “virtual bubbles” to a misplaced and endless hunger for knowledge, Mohammed puts forward the case for breathing meaning into spiritual pursuits again and finding each individual’s role in that pursuit of Sacred significance.

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Fetzer Institute Appoints Steven Harris as Vice President of Ecosystem Transformation

meller — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 11:30:05 +0000

Fetzer Institute Appoints Steven Harris as Vice President of Ecosystem Transformation meller Mon, 07/08/2024 - 07:30

Kalamazoo, Michigan, July 8, 2024 — The Fetzer Institute announces the appointment of Steven Harris as vice president, ecosystem transformation, effective July 15. In this new role, he will lead the Institute’s work in select sectors or “ecosystems” to center the sacred and bring spiritual solutions to some of our society’s greatest challenges. Harris will also join the Institute’s leadership team.

“I am thrilled to have Steven taking on this role. His literacy across diverse religious traditions, his experience bridging divides, and his commitment to living out a sacred worldview make him uniquely qualified to contribute powerfully to our mission,” noted Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Lever.

Prior to joining the Institute, Harris served as senior director of academic programs at Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice. He also served on the faith engagement working group for President Biden’s 2020 campaign and, as director of advocacy and policy director for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention, he played a significant role in building bipartisan coalitions for passage of the criminal justice reform legislation that President Trump signed into law in 2018. During that time, he also testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and spent time overseas investigating human rights violations. In advance of these experiences, Harris served in pastoral ministry in Lexington, KY and helped lead congregation-based community organizing efforts across the city. For the past four years, Harris has been a teaching fellow and lecturer at Harvard University, where he has taught a range of religion classes including: “Religion, Race, and the Rise of New Orleans Jazz” and “Religious Literacy and the Professions: Government and Humanitarian Leadership.” A Vanderbilt graduate, he received his MDiv from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, an MA in Religion from Yale, and an MA in Religion from Harvard, where he is also a PhD Candidate in American Religious History.

Of his new assignment, Harris commented, “The explicit intention to attend to the inner, spiritual life as the site from which the public life emerges, most excites me about Fetzer. In this new role, I have the signal opportunity to commend a transcendent vision for both service in the world and the practice of world-building — a sacred-centered worldview desperately needed for such a time as this.”

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Sparking Religious Curiosity in Today’s Youth

apopovich — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 13:39:20 +0000

Sparking Religious Curiosity in Today’s Youth apopovich Wed, 04/10/2024 - 09:39

No one can prepare you for the type of grief that comes with losing a parent at an early age. Yet, I discovered a silver lining in the process: a deeper understanding of my faith.

Don’t get me wrong: there were plenty of moments when I was upset with God, and I had a lot to say to Him. Yet, that confusion and that pain made me believe in something bigger than myself. I felt comfort in knowing I wasn’t alone, but when I looked around at people my age, I still felt isolated and different.

I found the source of my grief separated me from my peers. Most young adults haven’t lost a parent. Those I encountered who had were double my age or more.

My peers were also all over the map with their beliefs. I had devoutly religious friends — many of whom were questioning and pushing back on their faith, while others weren’t spiritual at all.

This made me wonder: where do I fall? Am I spiritual but not religious? Religious and slightly spiritual? What about my friends? Their friends? How do youth see themselves in the context of faith, religion, and the whole world of belief?

Young People, Spirituality, and Religion

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I view organized religion as very different from spirituality. Every time I hear people’s experiences, it seems that they’re rejecting the former while adhering to the latter. This study seems to reinforce that fact. As they open their minds and hearts to concepts that are bigger than themselves, I wonder if today's teens and young adults are consciously closing out the messages of organized belief systems, such as Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Springtide’s body of research, including “The State of Religion & Young People 2023 ” report, reflects pieces of what may be a larger youthful trend away from organized creeds and established religious practices. The group interviewed 4,500 young people from America and was careful to include a balanced pool of ages, genders, regions, and ethnicities/races. Their goal was to gauge their perspectives on what is sacred to them and how they see the sacred intersecting with human experience.

The results should be a wake-up call for religious leaders across the globe. Let’s take a closer look…

Young People Understand the Value of Spirituality

Springtide’s report is filled with insights into the sacred lives of teens and young adults, particularly in the context of things like technological isolation and public catastrophe, such as increasing climate concerns or the dark conflicts engulfing various parts of the globe. The data reveals that today’s youth are not closed off to the spiritual and can acknowledge and embrace the personal, relational, and mysterious side of spirituality.

Young adults and teens love to connect and feel like they’re part of something bigger than themselves. When asked, 85% of that demographic report believing in a “higher power” on some level, while only 15% of them definitively don’t believe in the concept.

When it comes to their participation in organized religion, though, the tone shifts.

Young People Don’t Trust Organized Religion

In a world marked by increasing violence, hatred, and distrust, it should come as no surprise that the younger generation entering or just starting adulthood does not trust the spiritual infrastructure that has come before them. The separation from organized religion was already underway by the early 2000s. By 2019, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) CEO Robert Jones pointed out that the disassociation accelerated. In 2006, 54% of Americans were White and Christian. Less a decade later, that number had dropped to 42%.

The new data from Springtide continues to reinforce this trend. 27% of young people say they do not trust organized religion at all. The percentage of young people who do trust it completely stands at a meager 9%.

It’s also worth pointing out that while 18% of respondents report feeling “highly” connected to a higher power, 22% feel the same about their natural environment. In other words, more youth are finding spiritual connection in their surroundings.

Young People Engaging on Their Terms

Many 21st-century religious leaders are looking for ways to recapture the interest of younger demographics. They want to fill up their churches, synagogues, mosques, and so on with those that they stereotype as young, misguided souls who have lost their way.

What if this isn’t the way we should be going about things at all? What if, rather than “saving” our youth from themselves, the goal was to meet our youth right where they are? In the introduction to the Springtide study, licensed clinical social worker Kenji Kuramitsu says, “young people still see digital space as a potential conduit for the sacred.” If leaders could engage with young in spaces they’re already occupying, it could open up new opportunities to build faith-based connections.

“What if, rather than ‘saving’ our youth from themselves, the goal was to meet our youth right where they are?”

Whether it’s technological tools or the lyrics to the latest Taylor Swift song, where are religious leaders overlooking spiritual connection points with younger generations that speak to them on their level? Finding those points could be the first step to meaningful connection.

This report coins a phrase called Sacred Sensibility, which codifies how young people see, appreciate and respond to the sacred. Adults, particularly religious leaders, can help young people cultivate this. How can we spark curiosity beyond what they can see? How can we make them think about things like faith, hope, and love in their own lives and circumstances? How can we help them find the truths and encouragements inherent in organized religion through their own spiritual journeys? Answering questions like these could be the beginning of restoring young people’s faith, not just in spirituality but in organized religion, as well.

No matter how old we are, what we look like, or where we live, we will all, at one point or another, experience similar things in our lives. Regardless of where we fall on the religious or spiritual spectrums, relating through grief or joy, death or birth reminds us that we have a lot more in common than meets the eye. If there’s one thing I’ve learned through my own personal experience of grief and faith, it is that we have to stop ostracizing each other based on our differences in opinion and perspective. We need to come together where we are, look for those connecting points, and realize that we are never actually truly alone

Lexi Rominger is the Communications Specialist on the Global Outreach Team at the Fetzer Institute, a crucial team of our new strategic plan aiming to catalyze a movement of funders and organizations applying spiritual solutions for social problems.

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A Journey Through Fog: Spiritual Solidarity in a Secular World

apopovich — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 19:45:18 +0000

A Journey Through Fog: Spiritual Solidarity in a Secular World apopovich Thu, 03/28/2024 - 15:45

In the cold embrace of a winter evening in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a moment of unexpected clarity emerged from the mist, not just the literal fog that disrupted my travel plans but also the metaphorical haze that often separates our personal and professional lives. I was en route to New York City to honor a dear mentor at his memorial service, when my journey unexpectedly became a profound lesson in the power of spirituality and the beauty of human connection.

Jack Anderson, a revered figure in the dance world and a pillar of support for Dance at St. Peter's — a dance ministry I founded in the heart of Midtown Manhattan — had left an indelible mark on many, including myself. My mission was to pay tribute to his legacy through dance, a task that seemed on the brink of faltering when my flight was canceled due to fog. Desperation led to a decision — to take a two-hour Uber to Detroit, hoping against hope to catch my connecting flight to New York.

The driver, a young immigrant whose accent reminded me of my own migration, agreed to the lengthy trip. As we ventured into the fog-shrouded night, a sense of urgency enveloped us, each for our own deeply personal reasons. Then, unexpectedly, he took an exit, stirring a surge of frustration within me. Was this detour really necessary?

His request was simple yet profound: a brief pause to pray.

As he voiced his need, I noticed an undercurrent of apology, as if he had faced rebuke for such requests before. His humility and the evident importance of this moment to him moved me deeply. I reassured him, expressing not only my understanding but the honor I felt in facilitating this act of faith. "Please, take all the time you need," I insisted, recognizing the sacredness of the moment he was about to embrace.

His appreciation was evident in his repeated apologies and thanks, but I found myself equally grateful. This shared moment transcended the mere transactional nature of our initial encounter, becoming a testament to the profound connections that spirituality can forge between individuals from different walks of life.

Witnessing him lay out his prayer mat in a deserted parking lot, I was struck by the universality of the need for spiritual connection. As I bore witness to this holy act, any annoyance I felt was replaced by a deep respect for his commitment to his faith. Moved by the solemnity of the moment, I decided to embrace this opportunity for reflection and prayer as well, joining in silent solidarity. It was a poignant reminder of the time and space we carve out for sacred encounters in our daily lives, regardless of the setting.

Back on the road, the gratitude that passed between us was palpable—he for my respect toward his spiritual Muslim practice, and I for the privilege of witnessing such a personal, devout act.

As I reflect on this shared moment of prayer and the subsequent conversation, I am reminded that our workplaces, often secular spaces, hold immense potential for spiritual expression. Embracing our whole selves, including our spiritual and religious traditions, can transform not just the individual but also the collective ethos of our work environments.

This is not just a story about me and an Uber driver on a foggy night; it's a poignant call to action for all of us as we journey along this road we call life. We are invited to recognize and celebrate the diverse tapestry of spiritual practices that employees bring (or could bring) to their professional lives. By fostering an environment where spiritual and religious practices are not merely tolerated but celebrated, we can move toward a future where shared human flourishing is the norm, not the exception.

To anyone who is wondering, I did make my flight to New York. I was less anxious and perfectly centered for the memorial of dance for my dear friend and mentor, thanks to an unexpected encounter with an Uber driver.

Learn what prayer, art, and nature have in common by checking out Fetzer's latest Study of Spirituality. This study is more than just numbers — it's about real people and real experiences. It's a journey into the sacred heart of what keeps us grounded in times of crisis

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On Realistic Hope: A Reflection on Advent, Diwali, and Hanukkah

apopovich — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 19:42:25 +0000

On Realistic Hope: A Reflection on Advent, Diwali, and Hanukkah apopovich Tue, 12/12/2023 - 14:42

“Every spiritual journey is a pilgrimage, an exercise in anticipation and hope.” — Image Journal, “Every Breath a Birth”

The closing months of the year often come with mixed emotions. Although this season is typically marketed as joyful and filled with cheer, gratitude, and connection, our lived reality likely resembles something different. In an ongoing social moment marked by division, hostility, violence, and tension, this season more accurately looks like fumbling through conversations about global conflict, national politics, immigration, worker strikes, and the like with distant relatives and old friends who stop by once a year.

To be sure, these conversations aren’t isolated in the holiday season. However, there is a perverse, hope-crushing irony found in arguing over these weighty topics while Nat King Cole or The Muppet Christmas Carol plays in the background. If we can’t find community, healing, joy, or hope in this season that is supposed to bring about these very things, how can this ever be found?

For many Christians, the month of December revolves around the season of Advent, which culminates in the celebration of Christmas. The four weeks of advent are, quite literally, the anticipation and expectation of hope. It is a month of praying, dreaming, and longing for the arrival of Christ, the hope and bedrock of our tradition. It is the rekindling of an enchanted faith as we remember the prophetic, mothering womb of God.

These final months of the year are also filled with celebrations of hope across many other faith traditions. As an Indian American, I think immediately of Diwali: the Festival of Lights. While there is no single “Diwali” story, there is a common theme that unites this festival: the triumph of divine light over darkness. As a follower of Jesus, I can wholeheartedly join in the Diwali celebrations with my Hindu, Sikh, and Jain neighbors, looking to the lit diya in shared hope for a better world.

I think, too, of my Jewish colleagues and friends who celebrate Hanukkah (Chanukah), which commemorates the victory of the Jewish people over the Greek Seleucid empire in the second century BCE and the Maccabean revolt. While its reception is complicated today, Hanukkah offers another festival of lights marked by the hopeful candles of the Menorah. It is a celebration of giving, storytelling, and remembering.

These celebrations remind me of a brilliant conversation between Miroslav Volf and Matt Croasmun. In it, Croasmun asks, “What is a realistic hopefulness? What does ‘the world as it should be’ feel, taste, smell like?” In this season, I am reminded that hope looks a lot like the anticipation of God’s redemptive action; it feels like a compassionate touch of comfort; it tastes like a meal shared with friends and strangers alike; it smells like a coffee shop filled with people from all walks of life sharing a conversation; and it sounds like the collective voices of people across faith traditions joining together to speak words of affirmation, joy, and life to one another.

The question we might uplift in response is How can we hold on to a realistic hopefulness? I think a great starting point are these celebrations of hope and justice that are drawn out of our faith traditions. These liturgies and traditions do not negate the despair of an unjust world, but they do offer us the stories and lessons to cultivate a powerful and catalyzing hope. This work is not linear or stoic, but rather a winding, messy path of learning to engage with those around us as “neighbor,” and “colleague,” and perhaps even “friend” and “co-laborer.” But each time we are able to find compassion and (un)common ground, hope for a better world grows stronger.

To learn more about realistic hope, I recommend the links below.

Every Breath a Birth (Meditations for Advent & Christmastide), in Image Journal.
(Un)Common Life: Secularity, Religiosity, and the Tension Between Faith and Culture, a podcast with Luke Bretherton and Miroslav Wolf.

Amar D. Peterman (MDiv, Princeton Seminary) is an author and theologian working at the intersection of faith and public life. He is the founder of Scholarship for Religion and Society LLC, a research and consulting firm working with some of the leading philanthropic and civic institutions, religious organizations, and faith leaders in America today. His first book, This Common Life: Seeking the Common Good Through Love of Neighbor is forthcoming with Eerdmans Publishing Company. You can learn more about him at amarpeterman.com.

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What Does Spirituality Mean to Us? A Study of Spirituality in the United States Since COVID

aferguson — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:59:15 +0000

What Does Spirituality Mean to Us? A Study of Spirituality in the United States Since COVID aferguson Thu, 11/30/2023 - 08:59

This continuation of the Study of Spirituality in the United States builds on the initial study conducted in 2020. Using the original questionnaire, this updated version includes new items seeking to uncover any shifts in how we, in the United States, articulate and embody our faith and spirituality, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Defying Darkness: Love's Radical Rebellion Against Global Discord

apopovich — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 15:24:05 +0000

Defying Darkness: Love's Radical Rebellion Against Global Discord apopovich Wed, 11/15/2023 - 10:24

In the midst of the deadly conflict between Israel and Hamas, it’s hard to make heads or tails of religion. The situation is complex and multifaceted, with faith playing only a part. But before jumping to the conclusion that humanity would be better off without religion, we must raise a crucial question. How can the underlying source of light within all of the world’s great faith and spiritual traditions be maintained in times of such brutality and darkness?

Love itself offers guidance. Core to many paths of wisdom is the conviction that love fundamentally matters. When we cooperate with love, it can nurture a way of life and being in the world. Further, whilst referencing love can appear sentimental or utopian, it actually poses the greatest challenges to us. Nothing less than your all might be required to respond in love to love’s call. This is why the most inspiring individuals are those who are able to embody love regardless of the events with which life confronts them. Or rather, because of events. In such souls can be seen facets of love shining clearly. So what can be seen, what can be realised?

One insight has to do with power because love is a power, though not in the usual sense. Its power is not coercive or forceful, as political and technological power tend to be. Rather, love’s power operates by allure. It speaks directly to the soul and draws people towards that which is good, beautiful and true by stirring a desire that longs for these things. It perceives that they are of supreme worth.

The quiet and extraordinary power of such love is that it can hold people in times of trouble. In periods of anxiety and confusion, it is hard to know what to think or feel, or how the distress and suffering might be faced. And yet, by being open to love and risking its way, love’s yearning can reach towards horizons of unknowing, into clouds of uncertainty, to await wisdom, whilst being ready to offer care.

Love in this guise draws us to more than we might dare hope for. It can ready us to receive the unexpected as a result of undergoing the vulnerability of crisis and trial. With love, breakdown can lead to breakthrough.

Further, love is vital in the face of pain because it sustains what is best and refuses to let that be corrupted by inhumanity. It will cry out, often. It will pray, yes. It will lament, for sure. And in so doing, love aligns with the good and exposes what is foul. Indeed, it could be said that the horror of suffering is recognisable only because there is an absolute value called love. It agonisingly highlights why suffering is so objectionable.

The ethical imperative to love not only friends but enemies is a related challenge. The person who loves those who love them is managing only what is natural. But the person who can return hatred with love is in the vanguard of changing the world.

Again, this happens not because love seeks to impose its view on others. Rather, it seeks the transformation of all by holding out for a different dynamic to break in. When that happens, this-worldly power structures are suspended. There can become present a freedom that is open and startling, a liberty to love what is transformative and so be readied to risk all for it. Such love is willing to die, not so as better to kill, but as a mark of complete devotion and tremendous trust.

Love, therefore, must not be lost to violence and the cynicism that terror sows in its wake. Quite the opposite. For the situations that seem the most intractable and utterly dire are those that need love the most and, remarkably, might foster it, too. Understood aright, religious traditions and faith sustain this conviction in our hearts: that true love proves itself as it is burnished in the fire of life.

Dr. Mark Vernon is a writer and psychotherapist, also currently working on a project funded by the Fetzer Institute examining the role of design in fostering love. He contributes to and presents programmes on the radio, as well as writing journalistically. He also podcasts, gives talks and leads workshops. He has a PhD in ancient Greek philosophy, and other degrees in physics and in theology, having studied at Durham, Oxford and Warwick universities. He is the author of several books, including Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps and Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey. He used to be an Anglican priest and lives in London, UK. For more information see www.markvernon.com.

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Civic Friendship in Jewish Thought

aferguson — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 16:30:01 +0000

Civic Friendship in Jewish Thought aferguson Wed, 10/25/2023 - 12:30

Recently, the Fetzer Institute had the honor of interviewing our partner, Dr. Shira Billet from the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS). Dr. Billet's research focuses on the beginnings of modern Jewish philosophy and its place within the history of philosophy, especially ethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of religion. She is partnering with Fetzer on an upcoming event on the theme of love and friendship in Jewish and political thought.

Dr. Billet is Assistant Professor of Jewish Thought and Ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Prior to her role with JTS, she was a postdoctoral associate in Judaic Studies and Philosophy at Yale University. She completed her doctorate at Princeton University in 2019.

Fetzer Institute (FI): Can you describe a bit about how the development of modern Jewish thought during the 19th and early 20th century (your area of expertise) connects to our current political and cultural moment?

Dr. Shira Billet (SB): Modern Jewish philosophy was born in the context of a political struggle for civil rights for Jews in modern Europe. My research focuses on one of the most important modern Jewish philosophers, a German Jew named Hermann Cohen (1842-1918). Cohen studied philosophy at German universities and made a name for himself as an interpreter of Plato and Kant. He helped found a prominent school of German philosophy that focused on reviving Kant’s philosophy. Cohen believed that philosophy needed to be scientific, grounded in mathematics and logic, but also that it needed to be grounded in human cultural history, and oriented above all toward ethics and just politics.

It’s important to know that it was very unusual for a Jew to become a professor of philosophy at a German University in that era. Philosophy departments were important engines of German culture, and Jews were typically excluded from their upper echelons. Cohen was thus in a rather unique position. In the beginning, he understood that he needed to keep his Judaism separate from his philosophical work. But there’s a fascinating moment in Cohen’s career when he begins to shift from writing commentaries on the history of philosophy to writing more of his own philosophy. This moment also coincides with him incorporating more Jewish sources into his philosophical writing, and also beginning to write philosophical pieces for Jewish audiences. He began to take on the role of a public philosopher, and also a Jewish philosopher.

This came at a moment when antisemitism had been on the rise in Germany for over a decade. Tragically for German Jews, this began shortly after they had obtained full civil rights in 1871, just as they were hoping to fully integrate into German society.

This radical political shift in the legal status of Jews had aired all sorts of underlying social and political tensions, anxieties, and fears.

One consequence was that antisemitism became more vehement, more widespread, and more mainstream. By the 1880s, antisemitism in Germany was unlike anything Cohen had experienced in his first four decades of life.

In 1888, things came to a head in the small university town where Cohen lived and worked. Events at a local rally for an antisemitic political party had led to a libel court case in the local municipal courthouse. Part of what the court needed to adjudicate in the context of the case was whether the Talmud—the core corpus of traditional Jewish texts second only to the Hebrew Bible—was an unethical corpus, and whether the Jews were an unethical people, as the alleged slanderer had claimed. While such public claims about the Talmud and the Jews had a long history in Germany and Europe, they took new political urgency as they sowed mistrust and division within the modern multi-religious, multi-ethnic state. The ability to integrate its newly legally emancipated Jews into the political community became a litmus test for the success of this enlightenment political project, which Cohen saw as a fundamentally ethical project based on a commitment to the complete equality of all human beings.

Cohen became a public philosopher—and a Jewish philosopher—the moment he stepped into the courtroom as an expert witness and publicly expressed an ethical reading of the Talmud. I argue in my work that Cohen took inspiration from Socrates, the founder of philosophical ethics, who also philosophized publicly from a courthouse at the time of his own trial. Cohen saw Socrates as a figure who wanted to help ancient Athens stay the course toward becoming a more ethical political community. Socrates’ decision (as documented in Plato’s Crito) to testify in court and face his unjust sentence, rather than to flee Athens, was an act of self-sacrifice for the betterment of the political community, for the advancement of ethics in political life. Only the philosopher’s public testimony and self-sacrifice could accomplish this goal. Cohen wasn’t forced to drink hemlock, but his choice to philosophize from the courthouse also came at great personal cost. He suffered professionally in significant ways for this violation of the norm that Judaism and its traditional sources ought to be kept out of philosophy.

Kant’s categorical imperative, one of the greatest philosophical expressions of universal ethics, had been born in Germany, much as Athens had been the birthplace of philosophical ethics. But just as Athens wasn’t living up to its values, neither was Germany. The role of the public philosopher was to continue to hold up those values to a resistant political community. This was part of what Cohen saw as philosophy’s contribution to politics, both historically and in the present.

These trials—in ancient Athens and in 19^th century Germany—arose in contexts of great political and philosophical change. Wherever there is great change, fear and mistrust rear their heads. We see similar dynamics in America today. Today’s contexts for civic mistrust are quite different from 19^th century Germany and ancient Athens. There are many irresponsible uses of the past and one must be careful not to impose the past onto the present or the present onto the past. Still, if we can find ways responsibly and with great care to draw appropriate analogies to our present-day challenges, we may also find within the past methods, ideas, and resources that can help us face the thorniest issues of our present moment.

FI: Is there a Jewish idea of civic friendship? What is its significance to fostering healthy social and political communities?

SB: When Cohen spoke about the ethics of Jewish sources, beginning with that 1888 trial, the central tradition he tried to recover was that of love for the political stranger, based on biblical sources about the resident-stranger in the ancient Hebrew state. This is the basis of a kind of civic friendship that can help a state face the challenge of incorporating a marginalized other. In Germany in his lifetime, the quintessential political stranger was the Jew. Cohen recognized how hard it was to achieve friendship and to build trust with the stranger. In a eulogy he penned upon the passing of the famed Protestant Bible scholar Julius Wellhausen, an erstwhile colleague and neighbor, Cohen reflected on the inherent challenges in developing true friendship between Jews and Christians in that era. Although he describes mutual respect, collegiality, and even mutual forms of affection in his relationship with Wellhausen, social forces proved too great an obstacle toward achieving complete mutual trust between Jews and Christians. Cohen expresses a wish for a future in which this divide can be bridged and more such true friendships achieved. This has resonance with contemporary challenges of mistrust and obstacles to friendship and civic friendship among historically divided groups in America today.

Embedded in Jewish traditional understandings of Judaism’s own history is a strong sense that civic enmity seeds the demise of the social order, and that a kind of civic friendship is a necessary ingredient for any flourishing society.

We see this in traditional Jewish reflections on the destruction in 70 CE of the second Temple and with it the Jewish polity, one of the most pivotal turning points in Jewish history. Although ancient Rome was the political power that destroyed the polity, according to traditional sources, Rome was able to achieve this political victory because the social fabric of the Jewish political community had already irreparably frayed through civic enmity. The Hebrew term for this is sinat hinam, a civic hatred that is unjustified, even if there are understandable reasons that explain the genesis of the enmity. Sinat hinam thus ought to be overcome rather than embraced. Such a restoration of trust and friendship, however, entails incredibly hard work and mutual sacrifice.

This reflection on civic enmity's toxicity, and on how difficult it is to reestablish civic trust, resonates today. Many of us recognize that American society is tearing apart from within with our hyper-polarization. We know that we need to establish a new social fabric built on trust and solidarity across our differences. But civic friendship is challenging, especially when the divisions run deep, and the mistrust is based in real violations of trust. The challenge is to overcome the enmity in a way that is mutual and reciprocal, fair to all parties involved, and attuned to historical contexts and injustices.

I believe that most people prefer friendship to enmity, mutual respect to mutual animosity. But there are powerful forces operating in our world and in our lives that thrive on sowing mistrust, on deepening divides rather than encouraging us to bridge them. Many of us are caught up in these forces, but we are longing for lifeboats that can help us steer a new course.

FI: Can you tell us about your upcoming event?

SB: The upcoming JTS event on Love in Dark Times taps into this desire for a new course away from enmity toward love and civic friendship. We’re trying to see how ideas from the past—primarily from Jewish philosophical, literary, and theological traditions—speak to contemporary concerns. Showcasing the work of excellent scholars, the event will be of interest to non-scholars too, giving special consideration to how this scholarship can speak to this moment in political and ethical life.

Learn more about Shira Billet and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

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Democracy

Religion and Spirituality

Blog Category

From the Field

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Spiritual Solutions for Political Flourishing

aferguson — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 15:27:49 +0000

Spiritual Solutions for Political Flourishing aferguson Wed, 10/25/2023 - 11:27

In the midst of the prevailing division, polarization, and self-interest in public life, the Fetzer Institute is asking: how can we live a better version of our civic lives?

We believe there is a spiritual dimension that has been missing in the public square, and we are exploring ways that faith-inspired civic empathy and love-centered restoration can help our political sphere flourish. This form of civic renewal welcomes the sacred in its many manifestations. It embraces the diversity of individuals, social institutions, and our entire non-human community. It is dynamic and thrives through interdependence.

Of course, this is messy and complex in a body politics that encompasses people of varied spiritual paths, faith traditions, and those who defy easy categorization. Nonetheless, Fetzer believes that our traditions and paths are ones that can help us as we weather an uneasy storm in a polarized time.

Providing Spiritually Sourced Solutions for a Politics of the Common Good

So, how can we provide spiritual solutions for a politics of the common good? Here are just a few examples of organizations we are working with that are regenerating love in our politics and tending the roots of our sacred stories in the public square.

Dr. Shira Billet of the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), explores civic friendship in Jewish thought. An upcoming JTS event, Love in the Dark Times, delves into the intricate role of civic love in Jewish theology, ethics, and literature, considering what this rich intellectual tradition can offer contemporary political life. Read our interview with Shira Billet.

Dr. Jacqueline Rivers of the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies collaborates with leaders in the ecumenical Black church to promote a philosophical, political, and theological framework for a civic love ethic inspired by Dr. King. Resisting political binaries, Dr. Rivers has advocated for faith-inspired pro-poor, pro-life, pro-family policies rooted in social justice for more than three decades. Read our interview with Jacqueline Rivers.

Amar Peterman is an emerging Gen-Z Indian American scholar and practitioner working at the intersection of faith and public life. Peterman has collaborated with various faith-based civic organizations, including Neighborly Faith, Sojourners, the Center for Public Justice, the Ideos Institute, and currently, Interfaith America. His work is grounded in the belief that “the gospel has the power to transform individuals and society” and he calls Christians to participate in both. Read his piece, ”Planting Gardens of Belonging."

In addition to these featured organizations and leaders, we highlight a few more spiritually grounded partners who are contributing to the cultivation of political communities where all can flourish.

The Jewish Partnership for Democracy (JPD), established in 2022, is a diverse network of Jewish institutions with a cross-sector focus on harnessing the unique assets and capacities of the Jewish community to support a healthy civic life. Led by Aaron Dorfman, the JPD weaves together various civic strengthening programs deeply rooted in the Jewish faith. One example within the JPD network is an organization that empowers young adults to host “democracy dinners” during Shabbat.

The Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) is a faith-inspired community organization that promotes health, wellness, and healing in inner-city areas by organizing for social change and civic renewal, among other initiatives. Dr. Rami Nashashibi, IMAN's founder and a MacArthur Fellow, bridges across religious, racial, and socioeconomic divides, successfully uniting diverse communities in pursuit of social justice in public life. IMAN seamlessly combines faith-inspired social service and civic action, recognizing them as two sides of the same coin. Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, a long-time supporter of IMAN, recently encouraged young people in IMAN by saying, “You're building models that can be imitated, models that can be repeated. And that's really what people need to see. May God bless this young generation of ours.”

The Fetzer Institute is also collaborating with Daisy Khan, executive director of the Women’s Islamic Initiative for Spirituality and Equality (WISE). This organization, grounded in the spiritual principles and practices central to Islam, focuses on empowering Muslim women to advance the civic freedoms of all individuals to engage in public life. Daisy emphasizes how her faith values inspire pluralistic interfaith civic action, stating, “In the Quran, justice takes as much priority as belief in God. So justice, we know, transcends considerations of race, religion, color, and creed. We are taught to do justice together. In community. And in public. Justice needs distinct faith-based civil society organizations working together, and sometimes even disagreeing with each other, to be fully realized.”

In partnership with these spiritual innovators and many others, the Fetzer Institute is dedicated to introducing new life-affirming stories and models into the soil of our political communities. We aim to identify, incubate, and catalyze diverse, spiritually grounded leaders and organizations committed to a public square where all can thrive. For this transformation in politics to be sustainable, we must remain committed to embracing a diversity of approaches and voices, each rooted in their distinct spiritual traditions and paths. By amplifying these constructive contributions, we can create the conditions for a politics of the common good to take root and flourish.

Chelsea Langston Bombino is a program officer at the Fetzer Institute. She is a contributing writer for Religion Unplugged and contributing author to Breaking Ground: Chartering Our Future in a Pandemic Year and The Routledge Handbook for Religious Literacy, Pluralism and Global Engagement.

Topics

Democracy

Religion and Spirituality

Blog Category

Reflections

Author

Chelsea Langston Bombino

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