Expensive Revealer readers,
On the primary evening of Hanukkah, which falls on December 25 this yr, Jews around the globe will recite the Shehecheyanu prayer, a blessing for particular events. The quick prayer expresses gratitude for “life… and for reaching this second of pleasure.” The Shehecheyanu is my mother’s favourite prayer, though she isn’t spiritual. Once we mild our candles “collectively” over FaceTime or Zoom with my husband, she is at all times the one who recites that blessing on the primary evening of Hanukkah. That second is a particular one for me. With the candle lighting that follows, it ritually marks the second as distinctive and jogs my memory to be thankful for reaching it. Occurring because it does within the winter season, it typically pushes me to replicate on the previous (secular calendar) yr and the approaching new one.
Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch
The previous yr has been considered one of many challenges. From the horrific battle in Gaza to the U.S. election, the previous twelve months have been devastating for a lot of. On the identical time, for many individuals, this yr was additionally considered one of hope the place hundreds of thousands believed Vice President Kamala Harris could be our subsequent President. Now, following the election, many individuals really feel a way of hopelessness. And whereas I perceive that feeling, I’ve been attempting to remind myself why I held on to hope within the first place and why so many others did the identical. In spite of everything, fascism thrives when lots solely really feel despair, so I’m refusing to surrender hope at the same time as I do know the approaching years might be tough ones.
With these concepts in thoughts, The Revealer’s December subject is about taking inventory of the previous yr and getting ready for the subsequent. The problem opens with Emily Frazier’s “To Evangelical Christians, What Does It Imply to ‘Welcome the Stranger’?” the place she investigates the surge in white evangelicals who’ve been working to help immigrants to america, and whether or not or not that work has an impression on their politics. Subsequent, in “This Future Should Not Be Ceaselessly,” Gillian Frank displays on how the current battles over abortion reveal an extended historical past of cultural misogyny and mistrust of girls’s freedom that continues to be pervasive at this time. Then, in “Parodying and Utilizing Faith to Attempt to Save the Planet,” Kali Handelman interviews George González about his new e-book, The Church of Cease Purchasing and Non secular Activism, and what an anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism group can educate us about defending our planet reasonably than worshipping on the altars of companies. Subsequent, in “Satanic Humor and Non secular Horror,” Erik VanBezooijen explores the movies Longlegs and Skinamarink, reflecting on what they may say about the true horrors of our day linked to Christian nationalism and conservative Christian conspiracy theories.
Our December subject additionally contains some suggestions. For the sixth yr, we’re glad to current our “Winter Studying Suggestions” of books by Revealer writers that we predict you’ll get pleasure from. And, this yr we additionally created a “Winter Articles We Love” checklist of our all-time favourite articles in regards to the December holidays that we’ve revealed in The Revealer that stay related (and transferring and insightful) at this time.
The December subject additionally contains two new episodes of the Revealer podcast. The primary, “Public Faculty Secularization and Desegregation” takes us on a historical past lesson to discover the Supreme Courtroom choices that outlawed prayer in public colleges and racial segregation. Leslie Beth Ribovich joins us to debate the legacies of these choices, how faith remained in public colleges, and what to make of present debates over faith and race in America’s colleges. Then, in “The Limits of Forgiveness,” Kaya Oakes joins us to debate the cultural pressures to forgive individuals who wronged us and Christianity’s connections to these pressures. We additionally discover how spiritual establishments, just like the Catholic church and the Southern Baptist Conference, have sought forgiveness once they have harmed folks. And we talk about doable fashions for forgiveness when one has been harmed by a non secular establishment or by one other particular person. You’ll be able to take heed to each episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As 2024 involves a detailed, and as my household lights our Hanukkah candles, I’ll heed the phrases of the Shehecheyanu blessing and be glad about “reaching this second of pleasure” even because the second feels sophisticated. Fairly than give attention to despair, I shall take within the pleasure of being with family members and use that energy as we head into the brand new yr. I can even take the insights from the articles and podcast episodes we’ve revealed in The Revealer this yr as I take into consideration how finest to proceed within the subsequent. And in doing these issues, just like the Hanukkah candles themselves, I hope to seek out, and I hope you discover, mild within the darkness.
Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.
P.S. We don’t publish a January subject, so we might be again in early February with a brand new subject of The Revealer!
Expensive Revealer readers,
On the primary evening of Hanukkah, which falls on December 25 this yr, Jews around the globe will recite the Shehecheyanu prayer, a blessing for particular events. The quick prayer expresses gratitude for “life… and for reaching this second of pleasure.” The Shehecheyanu is my mother’s favourite prayer, though she isn’t spiritual. Once we mild our candles “collectively” over FaceTime or Zoom with my husband, she is at all times the one who recites that blessing on the primary evening of Hanukkah. That second is a particular one for me. With the candle lighting that follows, it ritually marks the second as distinctive and jogs my memory to be thankful for reaching it. Occurring because it does within the winter season, it typically pushes me to replicate on the previous (secular calendar) yr and the approaching new one.
Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch
The previous yr has been considered one of many challenges. From the horrific battle in Gaza to the U.S. election, the previous twelve months have been devastating for a lot of. On the identical time, for many individuals, this yr was additionally considered one of hope the place hundreds of thousands believed Vice President Kamala Harris could be our subsequent President. Now, following the election, many individuals really feel a way of hopelessness. And whereas I perceive that feeling, I’ve been attempting to remind myself why I held on to hope within the first place and why so many others did the identical. In spite of everything, fascism thrives when lots solely really feel despair, so I’m refusing to surrender hope at the same time as I do know the approaching years might be tough ones.
With these concepts in thoughts, The Revealer’s December subject is about taking inventory of the previous yr and getting ready for the subsequent. The problem opens with Emily Frazier’s “To Evangelical Christians, What Does It Imply to ‘Welcome the Stranger’?” the place she investigates the surge in white evangelicals who’ve been working to help immigrants to america, and whether or not or not that work has an impression on their politics. Subsequent, in “This Future Should Not Be Ceaselessly,” Gillian Frank displays on how the current battles over abortion reveal an extended historical past of cultural misogyny and mistrust of girls’s freedom that continues to be pervasive at this time. Then, in “Parodying and Utilizing Faith to Attempt to Save the Planet,” Kali Handelman interviews George González about his new e-book, The Church of Cease Purchasing and Non secular Activism, and what an anti-consumerism and anti-capitalism group can educate us about defending our planet reasonably than worshipping on the altars of companies. Subsequent, in “Satanic Humor and Non secular Horror,” Erik VanBezooijen explores the movies Longlegs and Skinamarink, reflecting on what they may say about the true horrors of our day linked to Christian nationalism and conservative Christian conspiracy theories.
Our December subject additionally contains some suggestions. For the sixth yr, we’re glad to current our “Winter Studying Suggestions” of books by Revealer writers that we predict you’ll get pleasure from. And, this yr we additionally created a “Winter Articles We Love” checklist of our all-time favourite articles in regards to the December holidays that we’ve revealed in The Revealer that stay related (and transferring and insightful) at this time.
The December subject additionally contains two new episodes of the Revealer podcast. The primary, “Public Faculty Secularization and Desegregation” takes us on a historical past lesson to discover the Supreme Courtroom choices that outlawed prayer in public colleges and racial segregation. Leslie Beth Ribovich joins us to debate the legacies of these choices, how faith remained in public colleges, and what to make of present debates over faith and race in America’s colleges. Then, in “The Limits of Forgiveness,” Kaya Oakes joins us to debate the cultural pressures to forgive individuals who wronged us and Christianity’s connections to these pressures. We additionally discover how spiritual establishments, just like the Catholic church and the Southern Baptist Conference, have sought forgiveness once they have harmed folks. And we talk about doable fashions for forgiveness when one has been harmed by a non secular establishment or by one other particular person. You’ll be able to take heed to each episodes on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As 2024 involves a detailed, and as my household lights our Hanukkah candles, I’ll heed the phrases of the Shehecheyanu blessing and be glad about “reaching this second of pleasure” even because the second feels sophisticated. Fairly than give attention to despair, I shall take within the pleasure of being with family members and use that energy as we head into the brand new yr. I can even take the insights from the articles and podcast episodes we’ve revealed in The Revealer this yr as I take into consideration how finest to proceed within the subsequent. And in doing these issues, just like the Hanukkah candles themselves, I hope to seek out, and I hope you discover, mild within the darkness.
Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.
P.S. We don’t publish a January subject, so we might be again in early February with a brand new subject of The Revealer!
