Engaged Spirituality: Stories of Religious Resilience, Inspiration and Pursuing the Common Good
Edited by Ken Chitwood (Bloomsbury, 2026) Read More
This is my archive
The Radical Resistance and Radical Acceptance of Spiritual Exemplars
While our exemplars are extremely different, and they draw on different spiritual tools working in radically different contexts, this same paradox emerges in so many of them that it cannot be ignored. It is the coexistence of radical resistance and radical surrender. Read More
Spiritual Exemplars: The Pragmatism and Mystical Perspective of William James
William James was the inspiration for our project on “spiritual exemplars” at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. James, a philosopher and psychologist, believed that one learns more from what he called “religious geniuses” than from surveys of ordinary people. Read More
Spotlight shines on spiritually engaged humanitarians in ‘Stories of Social Change’ exhibit
After being immersed in the material for five years, Megan Sweas didn’t need a script as she led small groups on tours of the ambitious multimedia exhibit Stories of Social Change: Spirituality in Action on Tuesday evening. Read More
We Need Heroes: Countering Cultural Despair with an Exhibit of Exemplars
There is a great boom in psychotherapy these days. Especially among a younger generation, people are lonely, anxious about the environment, insecure financially—fearful they will not achieve the same standard as their parents—and burdened with choice, about their gender, vocation and life commitments. Read More
Kumu Hina and Walter Ritte: ‘A very Hawaiian place’
Even if de-occupying the entire state of Hawaii is a nearly impossible dream, inklings of what a more Hawaiian Hawai'i might look like help to keep the dream alive. Wong-Kalu smiles when we tell her we are going to Molokai to interview Ritte, whom she calls Uncle Walter. “When you go to Molokai,” she says, “it’s a very Hawaiian place.” Read More
Communality: A Possible Solution to Environmental Protection
Communality shapes how they organize their lives together, without political parties or a central authority. Martínez Luna and his fellow intellectuals talk about four pillars of communality: connection to the land, general assemblies, collective work and celebrations. Read More
Carmen Santiago Alonso: In Oaxaca, Indigenous Farmers Mourn Catholic Activist
Santiago Alonso, a lay Catholic missionary who championed the culture of Oaxaca’s half a million Indigenous Zapotecs by demanding water rights for their farmers, was both a guardian of ancient rituals and agricultural practices and a model for the Catholic Church’s future in this region: local, lay-led and concerned with the most vulnerable. Read More
Tom Goldtooth: From Indian bar bouncer to humanitarian
Goldtooth, 67, is a big-picture thinker who makes connections between the negative fallout of capitalist-driven resource development and the ways that communities of color are frequently forced to pay for profits from these projects with their health, land and cultures. Read More
Winona LaDuke and Tom Goldtooth: A Spiritual Perspective on Climate Change
The overriding message from scientists and world leaders appears to be a keen interest in integrating Indigenous peoples' reciprocal worldviews and relationship to the planet in the battle against climate change. Read More
