When a Shared Parking Lot Isn’t Just About Parking

|| Written by Paul D. Numrich, Methodist Theological School in Ohio and Trinity Lutheran Seminary || What happens when a Catholic church provides overflow parking to a Hindu temple? Is it primarily an exchange of resources? Or is something more going on? In our book on immigrant congregations, Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement, Fred Kniss and I…

Lent & Ramadan under the Same Roof

“Calling ISIS ‘Muslim’ is like going to KFC, sitting down to eat a bucket of chicken, and calling yourself a ‘vegetarian’.” This protest against the way Islam is portrayed in Western media was but one of the insights I gained while conducting congregational studies in a church and a mosque that were sharing a common…

Pop-Up Shabbat: A Dinner Community Case Study

[message_box title=”From the Editor” color=”blue”]This article features interactive content. To see additional commentary hover your mouse over the maroon hyperlinks. Additional orange hyperlinks in the commentary will take to you additional resources here on the site. Enjoy! — TKS[/message_box] Pop-Up Shabbat  is a pop-up restaurant inspired by Jewish culture and tradition in Brooklyn, NY. Each gathering lasts 3-4 hours…

Interfaith Experiences, Individual Growth

The blog post below was written by Congregational Studies’ Team Engaged Scholar Ria Van Ryn for her college newspaper. ——————————— In a 2014 article in the Observer Rachel Renz defends her decisions to attend a Catholic Christmas Eve service and to write about her experiences in a medium representing a Modern Orthodox institution.  Renz notes with disappointment that these decisions…