Sgt. Jeremy Couch and two fellow Texas Army National Guard soldiers enter the home of an Afghan family looking for information about escaped prisoners. In one corner, they see a Quran and a prayer rug. In another, a pair of rifles. Almost as soon as the soldiers sit down, they are besieged by demands for […]
America’s Church
Religious studies scholar offers uniquely broad perspective on Catholic presence in nation’s capital In 1913, Bishop Thomas J. Shahan received the pope’s blessing to pursue his vision for a church in Washington, D.C. — a national shrine that would honor the Virgin Mary, serve as a destination for pilgrims and stake a Catholic claim in […]
To the Moon
CarMax founder supports Plan II study abroad and recalls his own experience One spring day in 1973, while wandering the streets of Lima, University of Texas student Austin Ligon got swept up in an Easter procession. There he was, a Protestant from West Texas, marching for hours with hundreds of thousands of Peruvian Catholics behind […]
Contemplating Justice
Pulitzer Prize-winning History Professor David Oshinsky looks at the Supreme Court case that reshaped the death penalty in America In 1972, the United States Supreme Court delivered the longest and one of the most bitterly divided rulings in history. In a 5-4 decision in Furman v. Georgia, the justices ruled that the death penalty violated […]
Teaching the Bible in Public School
Professors guide high school instructors on approaching Scripture as an academic subject What is the latest event in Second Kings?” No response. Professor L. Michael White, the Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics and Christian Origins, had momentarily stumped 21 Texas high school teachers gathered in a second floor Waggener Hall classroom. “You’re becoming biblical […]