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Faith in Fantasy on Imaginary Worlds Podcast

I am a longtime fan of the Imaginary Worlds podcast, and was ecstatic was I was asked to participate in roundtable on the role of faith in imaginary worlds. I was joined by friend of many years, the Velveteen Rabbi, Rachel Barenblat, who did a wonderful write-up of her experience here. The episode description is: Science fiction has not always been compatible with religion — in fact many futuristic settings imagine no religion at all. But sci-fi and fantasy have long fascinated people of different faiths because the genres wrestle with the big questions of life. You can listen to episode…

Reading List: Intro to Islam

What would an introductory reading list on Islam look like? Not for an academic audience, but for the educated lay reader? My suggestions: General: Abou El Fadl, Khaled. Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2001. Algar, Hamid. Wahhabism: A Critical Essay. 1st ed. Oneonta, NY: Islamic Publications International, 2001. Bulliet, Richard W. The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Ernst, Carl W. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World. Islamic Civilization & Muslim Networks. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. Firestone, Reuven. Jihad…

Cold stones – The Immanent Frame

Cold stones – The Immanent Frame. When I first received the invitation to contribute to “Is This All There Is,” I thought immediately of the great speculative fiction author Douglas Adams. The question called to mind the title of his novel So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. An open question about endings demanded an equally amorphous valediction. My goal was to write a series of seemingly unconnected vignettes, which would ultimately connect to a point and work in the number “42.” Inspired by recent resignation letters from the executive branch of the US government, which used the initial letters…