In the midst of the final stretch of the semester, with Holy Week approaching next week, posts have been few and far between.  In the midst of the busyness, I wanted to share a couple of timely articles that have come on to my radar in the past few days.

First, after a seminar session with my students on Wednesday featuring student presentations and class discussion about the life and witness of the founder of the Catholic Worker Dorothy Day and then lecturing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the intersection of his life with the Third Reich on Thursday for members of the Explore program at CMU, I came across this timely interview with Stanley Hauerwas on peacemaking at Plough.  Hauerwas’s accessible reflections on these themes would have enriched either conversation.

Second, as Oral Roberts continues their Cinderella run through NCAA men’s basketball tournament, I was made aware of this interesting take on “The Empty Religions of Instagram” by novelist Leigh Stein on the New York Times.  It compares the social-influencers of social media to televangelists calling them Instavangelists.  Their “gospels,” however, rather than being genuine good news,  tend to leave their devotees yo-yoing between bold efforts of self-realization and the desolation of facing the inadequacies of such efforts which is often accompanied by seeking consolation through rabid consumerism.