Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the Catholic Church's relationship with economics and the natural sciences, how world religions treat language, Obama's relationship with Jewish Americans, and building spiritual capital.
AROUND THE WORLD
Catholic Trust Looks to Brazilian Fund for Social Returns
by Vinod Sreeharsha
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/business/dealbook/catholic-trust-looks-to-brazilian-fund-for-socia...
A Brazilian investment fund is taking to heart theVatican’s endorsement of leveraging capitalism’s tools to help address inequality. An investment firm, First, is on track this year to raise the country’s largest so-called impact investing fund, which is aimed at promoting social good as well as profitable returns. And it is being supported by some big players like JPMorgan Chase and the World Bank’s private investment arm. First is also being backed by an even higher power: a trust established by a 199-year-old international order of the Roman Catholic Church.
Religion and Language: Tongues of Fire and Sacred Mysteries
Economist
http://econ.st/1BdYMla
Another linguistically interesting holiday is upon us: Pentecost, from the Greek for the “50th [day]” since Easter. The other Germanic languages tend to call it something like the German Pfingsten, which is just pentekoste plus a thousand years of sound change. In Britain, it is Whitsun or Whitsunday, a derivative of “White Sunday”, which itself has several competing explanations. There is more to Pentecost than just its etymology, though. The holiday highlights the very different attitudes of the major world religions towards language.
Planets, Priests and a Persistent Myth
by Stephen Barr and Dermott Mullan
Wall Street Journal Houses of Worship
http://www.wsj.com/articles/planets-priests-and-a-persistent-myth-1432250521
The Catholic Church and scientific discovery are utterly incompatible, right? History disagrees.
DOMESTIC
Obama Takes Steps to Mend Relations with Speech at Adas Israel Synagogue
by Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-takes-step-to-mend-relations-with-speech-at-adas-israel...
When Obama speaks in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month at Adas Israel, Washington’s most prominent Conservative synagogue, his task will not be to persuade the crowd to back his Mideast policies. Instead, he must forge an emotional connection with his Jewish listeners so they feel it in their “kishkes” — Yiddish for guts. “That’s a real challenge for this president,” said Martin Indyk, who served as a special U.S. envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under Obama and belongs to Adas Israel. “It’s not simple to connect on the level of the kishkes.”
Building Spiritual Capital
by David Brooks
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/david-brooks-building-spiritual-capital.html?ref=opinion
Ignoring spiritual development in the public square is like ignoring intellectual, physical or social development. It is to amputate people in a fundamental way, leading to more depression, drug abuse, alienation and misery.
Catholic Trust Looks to Brazilian Fund for Social Returns
by Vinod Sreeharsha
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/business/dealbook/catholic-trust-looks-to-brazilian-fund-for-socia...
A Brazilian investment fund is taking to heart theVatican’s endorsement of leveraging capitalism’s tools to help address inequality. An investment firm, First, is on track this year to raise the country’s largest so-called impact investing fund, which is aimed at promoting social good as well as profitable returns. And it is being supported by some big players like JPMorgan Chase and the World Bank’s private investment arm. First is also being backed by an even higher power: a trust established by a 199-year-old international order of the Roman Catholic Church.
Religion and Language: Tongues of Fire and Sacred Mysteries
Economist
http://econ.st/1BdYMla
Another linguistically interesting holiday is upon us: Pentecost, from the Greek for the “50th [day]” since Easter. The other Germanic languages tend to call it something like the German Pfingsten, which is just pentekoste plus a thousand years of sound change. In Britain, it is Whitsun or Whitsunday, a derivative of “White Sunday”, which itself has several competing explanations. There is more to Pentecost than just its etymology, though. The holiday highlights the very different attitudes of the major world religions towards language.
Planets, Priests and a Persistent Myth
by Stephen Barr and Dermott Mullan
Wall Street Journal Houses of Worship
http://www.wsj.com/articles/planets-priests-and-a-persistent-myth-1432250521
The Catholic Church and scientific discovery are utterly incompatible, right? History disagrees.
DOMESTIC
Obama Takes Steps to Mend Relations with Speech at Adas Israel Synagogue
by Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-takes-step-to-mend-relations-with-speech-at-adas-israel...
When Obama speaks in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month at Adas Israel, Washington’s most prominent Conservative synagogue, his task will not be to persuade the crowd to back his Mideast policies. Instead, he must forge an emotional connection with his Jewish listeners so they feel it in their “kishkes” — Yiddish for guts. “That’s a real challenge for this president,” said Martin Indyk, who served as a special U.S. envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under Obama and belongs to Adas Israel. “It’s not simple to connect on the level of the kishkes.”
Building Spiritual Capital
by David Brooks
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/opinion/david-brooks-building-spiritual-capital.html?ref=opinion
Ignoring spiritual development in the public square is like ignoring intellectual, physical or social development. It is to amputate people in a fundamental way, leading to more depression, drug abuse, alienation and misery.
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