By: Barwendé Sané, S.J. & Professor Rhonda V. Magee We live in a world where it is more important than ever to have a strong mind and a tender heart. The strength of the mind is a necessary power to… Continue Reading →
By: Rhonda V. Magee “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” — Matthew 10:16 “We must work passionately and unrelentingly for full stature as citizens, but may it never be said, my friends, that to gain it… Continue Reading →
By: Rev. Vanessa Southern Martin Luther King, Jr., paraphrasing 19th Century Unitarian abolitionist preacher Theodore Parker is often quoted for saying, “The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice.” For King, as I understand it,… Continue Reading →
By: Rabbi Camille Shira Angel, Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, University of San Francisco (2023) I’d like to dedicate my learning today to my current students in Queering Religion, who inspire my calling with their daily courage… Continue Reading →
By: Jonathan D. Greenberg “I imagine that the first question which the priest and the Levite, asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But by the very nature of his concern, the good… Continue Reading →
By: Donal Godfrey, SJ “You will love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself”. This, as Martin Luther King… Continue Reading →
By: Silena Layne, Faithful Fools “This is the story of a man by all modern standards would be considered eminently successful. Yet Jesus called him a fool. The central character in the drama is a “certain rich man” whose farm… Continue Reading →
By: Rev. Tova Green I decided to join this symposium in part because of a conversation I had with my father when I was seventeen. It was December 1957, and I had just finished my first quarter at Antioch College… Continue Reading →
By: Rev. Zandra L. Jordan, PhD It is midnight within the social order, the darkest I’ve seen. Mass shootings are at an all-time high with no sites, sacred or secular, off limits. A Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, a… Continue Reading →
By: Rev. Dr. Ronné Wingate Sims, University of San Francisco (2023) Growing up, when my pastor was preaching a message that was particularly wise or especially resonated with the people, elder congregants would sometimes shout out, “tell the truth and… Continue Reading →
By: Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper, Stanford University I’ll be candid. I’m struggling to cling to the faith King espouses in his sermon, “The Death of Evil Upon the Seashore.” I began writing this reflection during Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating… Continue Reading →
By: Roger Friedland, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies, UC Santa Barbara “Southern trees bear a strange fruit. Blood on the leaves, blood at the root.” As I pondered King’s sermon “Shattered Dreams,” the universe was sending signs to me, signs… Continue Reading →
By: Erin Brigham, University of San Francisco (2023) In “Paul’s Letter to American Christians,” Dr. King boldly decries the division, apathy, and moral tepidness of Christians in the face of racial segregation and rampant economic inequality in the United States…. Continue Reading →
By: Marc Andrus My companion in reflecting on Paul’s Letter to America, Professor Erin Brigham, chose to focus first on the fact that the Rev. Dr. King is addressing the Christian churches of the United States in the mid-20th Century,… Continue Reading →