When I say "living definitions," I'm referring to the meanings of words to actual people - whether those definitions match a dictionary or not.
What is Religion?
What is Faith?
What is Morality?
What/who is God?
What/who are we?
What is Spirituality?
What does a life that understands these concepts look like?
Thoughts always welcome...
The tally seems to be growing every day. Now, the following nations and territories in North Africa and the Middle East have seen moderate to large-scale protests:
Libya
Bahrain
Yemen
Iran
Egypt
Jordan
Iraq
Kuwait
Djibouti
Algeria
Sudan
Syria
Tunisia
Palestinian Territories
This is a significant movement of popular unrest in a generally unstable part of the world. The long-term implications are staggering...
Tunisia - success
Egypt - success
Algeria - in progress
Yemen - in progress
Iran - in progress
Libya - in progress
Bahrain - in progress
Who's next?
Political protests have brought change to Tunisia and Egypt - though exactly what kind of change remains to be seen.
Protesters in Algeria, Yemen and Iran are putting their lives in jeopardy to bring change to their nations.
Will these movements bring true democratic reform? Will they usher in another wave of authoritarian rulers? Or, as some have suggested (Glenn Beck), are these the first steps to a modern Caliphate?
CNN.com hosts a religion blog called "belief blog" that often proves quite interesting. This article (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/13/baby-boomers-flood-seminaries/?hpt=C2) discusses a relatively new influx of middle-aged students entering seminaries all over the US.
Certainly, the breadth of knowledge and experience that a Boomer brings to the table has the potential to bring great contribution to theological dialogue.
But, will the struggles of going back to school after so many years out lead to an increased drop out rate?
What about reverse age discrimination? While in seminary, I personally had the "when you get older, you'll understand" accusation levied against me by another student. And yes, she was probably in her twenties when I was born. She failed to realize that I was clearly taking the opposing view for the sake of argument.
What would cross your mind if your fresh-out-of-seminary pastor showed up for her/his first Sunday with grey, white or no hair?
First Tunisia, then Egypt - will the people of Algeria follow suit? Will other repressive Muslim regimes be threatened? Will the more democratic Muslim governments support these uprisings?
