Lex Orandi, Lex Operandi: The Relationship of Worship and Work in the Early Church

(Excerpt) We are all familiar with the famous dictum of Prosper of Aquitaine, who in the fifth century coined the axiom, lex orandi, lex credendi. I propose a variation on this principle by suggesting lex orandi, lex operandi, the law of prayer gives birth to the law of works, and my test case will be the early church before Gregory the Great. To take each of these themes separately would be a simple task. We are all familiar with early Christian treatises on worship and the histories of worship. We also possess numerous commentaries on early Christian attitudes toward society and the evidence of faith resulting in actions in and towards the world

That sh*t is rude! Religion, Picture Books, and Social Narratives in Middle School

While the U.S. has a divisive history around the separation of church and state in public school, current national and state teaching standards do include curricular objectives related to the study of religion. This paper focuses on the ways a diverse group of sixth-grade public schoolchildren engaged with religious content in their English Language Arts class. Specifically, it examines the kinds of narratives the children constructed in response to diverse works of public art and children’s picturebooks, including Mora’s (2012) The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe / La hermosa señora: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Señora), and Garza’s (1996) In My Family. The children’s responses disrupt us/Other social narratives and demonstrate the importance of religious literacy in the space of public schools. They push against the notion that acknowledging religious perspectives that are not part of mainstream culture could be offensive to some children. This study reinforces that the interdisciplinary inclusion of religious content in public school not only supports state and national teaching standards, but also opens a space for children to understand the pluralistic society in which they live

Lessons of the European Crisis for Regional Monetary and Financial Integration in East Asia

The debt crisis in several member states of the euro area has raised doubts on the viability of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the future of the euro. While the launch of the euro in 1999 stirred a lot of interest in regional monetary integration and even monetary unification in various parts of the world, including East Asia, the current crisis has had the opposite effect, even raising expectations of a break-up of the euro area. Indeed, the crisis has highlighted the problems and tensions that will inevitably arise within a monetary union when imbalances build up and become unsustainable. This note discusses the causes of the current European crisis and the challenges that EMU countries face in solving it. Based on this analysis, it derives five lessons for regional financial and monetary cooperation and integration in East Asia.european crisis; euro area; european monetary union; financial integration; east asia