As The New School continued to react to the weekend's blow to our feeling of safety (itself a localization of the anxiety so many across the land are feeling), the Religious Studies Program found a way to remind us again how much of comfort and care we have in each other.
Our Fall roundtable, like roundtables past, featured current faculty, a student and a visitor from afar, one more exciting than the next. Our theme was "queer religion," something we've explored and celebrated before in a more narrowly American Christian frame, and it was thrilling to welcome one of China's leading young gay Catholic leaders to our table. But what really grabbed everyone was the idea - presented by E, one of our brilliant undergraduate majors - that midrash can be seen as "Bible fan fiction," and vice versa! We all felt that vitality of living, loving interpretation, faithfully and playfully having our queer way with the texts and figures which won't let us go. A terrific experience of living religion and community, just what we all needed. I'm a fan!
