The Middle Ages weren’t as dreary and desperate as you’d think, and peasants often had weeks of idle time during the holidays. On Christmas Day, the party was just getting started.
Articles on Priests
Displaying 1 - 20 of 28 articles
The Catholic Church treats information shared during confession as absolutely confidential – but that requirement can create legal dilemmas.
New research from sociologists finds that local Catholic leaders are more likely than many other Christian clergy to speak about immigration with their congregations.
Throughout modern history, charismatic leaders have shown their extraordinary ability to elicit devotion to themselves and their causes.
When President Daniel Ortega returned to power in 2006, church figures supported him. Violent repression after the 2018 protests has soured the relationship and made clergy targets for intimidation.
Leonard Cohen, a man about whom surely no Hallmark festive movie will ever be made, dared the Divine to answer humanity’s sorrows.
The College of Cardinals is an important part of the church’s governance structure. Its members elect the next pope and help develop future policies for the church.
The merging of technology and faith is sparking a transformative shift in redefining spirituality and religious practices.
Not quite, writes an expert on Christian worship. Chatbots do not have human experience of love – and, above all, they lack a soul.
The use of AI and robotic technology in worship is raising profound questions about its long-term consequences. Will it lead to the betterment of society or replace practitioners?
A scholar of Japanese religion explains the connections that Japan’s political parties have with several religious groups and how religion is tied in with the legacy of Shinzo Abe.
Father Damien’s legacy has inspired health providers and humanitarians for over a century.
An anthropologist of Japanese religion met followers of Shinto religion online and found how they were building a community and sharing instructions on practice.
A German report accused retired Pope Benedict XVI of mishandling several cases of sexual abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. Here are a few of our related articles on the Catholic Church’s crisis.
A scholar of religion in film explains the varied representation of Catholicism in horror. In some films, it is used in the fight against evil, while others show the Church itself as evil.
A French report on the scale of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is the latest revelation in the crisis, but its roots go back decades – or more. Here are a few of our many related articles.
An article that used geolocation data to place a priest at gay bars raises questions over journalistic ethics, and shines a light on the Catholic media landscape.
In early Christianity, soldiers could be baptized only if they refused to kill other human beings. While this changed over the years, tensions linger over Christian goals.
Italian teenager Carlo Acutis, who died at the age of 15, is on the path to becoming a saint. A scholar explains the long history of child saints in the Catholic Church.
The age-old practice of priestly celibacy is now under fire, with the suggestion that the rules should be relaxed.
Top contributors
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Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross
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Professor of Law, University at Buffalo
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Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University
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PhD Candidate, East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
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Visiting Lecturer in Anthropology, Wellesley College
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Professor of Early Christianity, Cornell University
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Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
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Associate Professor, Department of HIstory, University of Dayton
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Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame
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Master Lecturer of Rhetoric, Boston University
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Assistant Professor of Behavioral Medicine, Medical Humanities, and Bioethics, Des Moines University
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Adjunct professor, Theological Studies, Concordia University
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Visiting Professor of History, University of Reading / Worcester College Oxford, University of Reading
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Professor of History and Legal Studies, Bryant University
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Assistant Professor of Sociology, UMass Boston