Monday's News & Ideas
The key to rubbing along in perfect harmony
The (London) Times: Chief Rabbi’s musical metaphor works: Christians and Muslims need to learn how to “sing in a minor key.”
Why fundamentalism will fail
Boston Globe: For all its apparent strength, the fundamentalist sun is setting on all horizons, says Harvey Cox.
When E.T. phones the pope
Washington Post: Astrobiology has arrived, and religious and social institutions -- even the Vatican -- are taking note.
Austin-area seminaries see enrollment grow, change with economy
Austin (Tex.) American-Statesman: Recession has brought more applicants and changed the types of students seeking to study religion.
Setting clergy free
Religion News Service: Clergy “tenure” system isn’t working; clergy entrepreneurs function more effectively and with increased job satisfaction.
The Spark
A torah scribe pushes the parchment ceiling
In Hebrew the word for Julie Seltzer’s arcane profession is soferet; she’s a scribe, a Hebrew calligrapher who writes sacred texts on parchment. A handful of women do what she does, and an even fewer are practiced in the ritualistic craft of writing particularly holy scrolls, including the Torah, considered the foundation of Jewish life and thought. As the New York Times reports, Seltzer and her work are the central element of a new exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, “As It Is Written: Project 304,805.”
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