Monthly Archives: April 2020

Pandemic Religion: A Digital Archive (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 20, 2020 by zjb

(photosource: Jefferson Park Baptist Church) Check out the Pandemic Religion Digital Archive here. If you want to contribute, it’s simple. Go to “What is Your Story” or “How Has Your Religious Community Responded.” Most of the postings are photo-images with … Continue reading →

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(Knowledge/Power) Maimonides (Art of Reason)  

Posted on April 20, 2020 by zjb

Maimonidean reason has in common with Foucault a basic correlation between knowledge and power. It pops up in the introduction to Commentary on the Mishnah. Wisdom adds to the inner power of a person which is the actualization of human … Continue reading →

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Christians & Coronavirus (March/April 2020)

Posted on April 19, 2020 by zjb

True to form, Jewish religious response to the Coronavirus has been dominated by problems relating to halakhic practice and communal structure; about God not so much if at all. With thanks to Adam Brett, I wanted to see what the … Continue reading →

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(Velocity) Coronavirus Cannonball Run

Posted on April 18, 2020 by zjb

If not now, when? According to this article here at the NYT, people on the highway are acting all sovereign, suspending the law and driving super fast. Taking advantage of the empty roads at a time of national pandemic, a … Continue reading →

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(Coronavirus) A Little Historical Primer on Modern Plagues (Paul Slack)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by zjb

For general readers and students, “Responses to Plague in Early Modern Europe: The Implications of Public Health” is an old article here by Paul Slack, author of Plague: A Very Short Introduction. I’m linking it here . The article came … Continue reading →

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(Secular Common Sense) Bankers & Trump (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 16, 2020 by zjb

I know a lot of you are down on capitalism, but this little note here that even the bankers don’t seem to like Trump very much is very funny, but also to the point.  About the idea of a big … Continue reading →

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(Talmud & Art) Cats at Seder Behold I Bite the Mouse (Illuminated Haggadah)

Posted on April 14, 2020 by zjb

Pesach is almost done with this year but I wanted to share with my Talmud, art, and animal friends this charming little post from the amazing blogsite here at the Bodleian. These medieval illuminated images from the Haggadah are the … Continue reading →

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Religion is Not Essential (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by zjb

Whose labor is essential? Whose labor is not essential? That’s the question. In modernization/secularization theory a lot of ink gets spilled about the public sphere in relation to the religious sphere. There’s the notion contested this way and that way … Continue reading →

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(Andrew Cuomo) Liberal Political Theology (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by zjb

Like the one today (April 13), I’ve been watching a lot of these daily press conferences with Gov. Cuomo of New York in response to the Cornonavirus pandemic. Personally, I find them unvarnished and reassuring. Listening for religion and religion … Continue reading →

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(New York) What I See Walking About (Coronavirus)

Posted on April 12, 2020 by zjb

I am not a doctor or nurse or hospital orderly, not a cop or a firefighter or public transit worker, not stocking shelves and manning checkout counters at grocery stores and pharmacies, delivering mail or parcels. I am not homeless. … Continue reading →

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