The Immanent Frame

James L. Rowell, an assistant professor of religion at Flager College, examines divergent forms of religious leadership through studies of Gandhi and Osama bin Laden.

Anthropologist Barbara J. King, whose previous book Evolving God explored the roots of religion among non-human animals, has a new book, called Being with Animals, about how and why humans relate to other species.

As we’ve sometimes noted here, advocates have claimed that Islamic, Sharia-compliant financial products and systems are safer than conventional ones. At Davos, reports Reuters, a top regulator for the government of Qatar disagrees.

After radical Catholic theologian Mary Daly’s death last month, and that of Edward Schillebeeckx in December, Charlotte Allen wonders in The Wall Street Journal whether anybody is left to carry on the intellectual torch of Catholic dissent

In line with its professed 2010 funding priority of “Finding Free Will,” the John Templeton Foundation has just awarded $4.4 million for a new project, to be led by Alfred Mele at Florida State University, for “empirical and philosophical explorations” into “Free Will: Human and Divine.”

At the OUPblog, Martha Nussbaum suggests a Constitutional parallel between religion and sexual orientation.

A former Catholic nun, Karen Armstrong has written more than 20 books on comparative religions, including A History of God, The Great Transformation, and, most recently, A Case for God. In 2008, she received the TED Prize, which granted $100,000 to support her proposal—her “wish,” as it’s called—for a Charter for Compassion “based on the fundamental principle of the Golden Rule.” Since then, she and TED have parlayed the Charter into a movement of political and religious leaders, as well as, through its website, thousands of people around the world.

Philip Pullella of Reuters reports that, for the Catholic Church’s World Day of Communications, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged clergy to take up the challenge of new media.

Sheldon Chad at The Guardian reports on the Obama administration’s recent decision to revoke its ban against Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, who said in response that his name “has been definitely cleared.”

In The New York Times, James Wood suggests that the theological consequences of President Obama’s comments about the Haiti earthquake may be as troubling as those of Pat Robertson.