Renovatio

02/28/2025

02/05/2025

Read an excerpt from DePaul University's theologian William T. Cavanaugh's article, "Nationalism as Idolatry: Why We Must Choose Between Elevating Religion or Country," and purchase the print to read his full thoughts on Christian nationalism
https://bookstore.zaytuna.edu/products/renovatio-and-god-calls-to-the-abode-of-peace/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=renovatio_marketing

02/04/2025

In the new edition of Renovatio, Juan Cole writes an essay on how Rumi and Shakespeare navigated forgiveness while holding space for the fullness of the human experience. https://bookstore.zaytuna.edu/products/renovatio-and-god-calls-to-the-abode-of-peace/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=renovatio_marketing

02/04/2025

In Renovatio's new edition, William T. Cavanaugh writes on nationalism as idolatry; Khalid Yahya Blankinship and Hamza Yusuf on Palestine's stolen history; Andrew F. March on whether any state has the right to exist, and much more https://bookstore.zaytuna.edu/products/renovatio-and-god-calls-to-the-abode-of-peace/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=renovatio_marketing

02/04/2025

Peacemaking is a divine command, and guidance is the right of all humanity. We chose to illuminate these Qur’anic truths in the new edition, even as our world is riven by conflict and chaos—from Europe to the Middle East, from Kashmir to Kinshasa. https://bookstore.zaytuna.edu/products/renovatio-and-god-calls-to-the-abode-of-peace/?utm_source=social&utm_medium=renovatio_marketing

02/04/2025

The legacy of the European Renaissance is one of contradiction. We often think of it as the cradle of the modern world, and yet those behind it were principally concerned with the rediscovery of the ancient one.

Listen to Esme Partridge's insightful essay, "What Pico Thought—and What It Wrought"

“The legacy of the European Renaissance, it could be said, is one of contradiction. We often think of it as the cradle of the modern world, and yet those behind it were principally concerned with the rediscovery of the ancient one.” —Esmé L. K. Partridge

01/23/2025

The authority of science in culture has reduced the human self to the brain, but if we relearn how the poets and philosophers of the past understood the self, we’ll see how we’ve regressed, not progressed.

The authority of science in culture has reduced the human self to the brain, but if we relearn how the poets and philosophers of the past understood the self, we’ll see how we’ve regressed, not progressed.

01/21/2025

What wisdom can Rumi and Shakespeare offer us on the matter of forgiveness?

Explore this and more in our new addition coming soon. See it first by subscribing: https://zaytuna.us15.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=9ef8facb7e6f241490f8aa38e&id=f428a6bb83

01/15/2025

"Hollywood tends to recreate history in its own image, distorting our understanding of past peoples and places. Meanwhile, literature languishes on the shelves of libraries, and the few remaining brick-and-mortar bookstores carry more and more popular titles instead of stocking classics that challenge the minds of readers. Few young Americans are capable of reading and comprehending great works of literature, so those works no longer inform their understanding of the world. Poetry, which was popular and a source of knowledge and wisdom for the peoples of the past, has few devotees today." -Hamza Yusuf

Despite the diversity of our countless creeds, colors, and cultures, our society has been subsumed into a monoculture of ersatz arts, entertainment, and consumerism. How can we recapture humanity’s once extraordinary individuality?

01/14/2025

"Islam contains teachings that clearly argue against the most important elements of nationalism. Foremost among these elements are the chauvinism and exclusiveness engendered by the nationalist project. It is worth contemplating whether Islam can play a role in shaping an effort to move beyond nationalism."
-Imam Zaid Shakir

Islam contains teachings that clearly argue against the most important elements of nationalism.

01/08/2025

God never tries a heart with anything more severe than plucking shame (hayā’) from it.
—Mālik b. Dīnār

If ĥayā’ is the humble, reticent awareness of being the object of another’s moral gaze, then the present homogenizing, hegemonic world-system must consume and destroy all other ways of life and perspectives lest it suffer the shame of being seen for what it truly is.

12/30/2024

Listen to "The Sin of Cosmocide" by historian Juan Cole.

“The passage equating killing a single soul with killing the whole world appears in a universalist form in the earliest manuscripts of the Mishnah Sanhedrin, in the Jerusalem Talmud.” —Juan Cole

11/15/2024

From the pain of African Muslims enslaved in the Americas, a new genre of music was born: the blues. Listen to “What Islam Gave the Blues” by Sylviane Diouf for Renovatio.
Listen to the full audio essay here: https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/media/what-islam-gave-the-blues

11/13/2024

Explore the ways God addresses humanity in the Qur'an in Imam Zaid's essay "The Human in the Qur’an":
https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/the-human-in-the-quran

10/10/2024

Read Juan Cole’s powerful exploration, ‘The Sin of Cosmocide’, in Renovatio, where he examines how both Islamic and Jewish traditions consider the taking of a single life as tantamount to destroying an entire world. A must-read for anyone interested in the intersections of faith, morality, and the sanctity of life.

For Jews and Muslims, killing a soul means killing all of humanity according to their own scriptures. Yet, adherents of both faiths persist in betraying God’s teaching.

10/10/2024

Explore the existential threats facing our planet through a philosophical perspective with Rosabel Ansari’s ‘The Climate Emergency’ in Renovatio. This thoughtful piece challenges us to rethink our responses to climate change through the lens of wisdom and intellectual rigor.

Understanding the existential threat we face in philosophical terms can give us tools to think more wisely about the crisis and how we ought to respond.

10/09/2024

In the latest edition of Renovatio, Faraz Khan’s essay, ‘The Incoherence of Secular Messiahs’, offers a profound analysis of how secular intellectuals are returning to forms of paganism to fill spiritual voids. An insightful read for those exploring the landscape of modern belief systems. https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article/the-incoherence-of-secular-messiahs

10/08/2024

The significance of walking in the Islamic tradition, both as a prelude to and as a part of prayer, provides the ground on which to explore the riches of rootedness as a divinely endowed gift unto human beings.
Listen to "What Walking Can Do For Our Souls"

“Indeed, the great gift of walking amidst nature is feeling the lightness of being: we can shed our carefully crafted identities and our beguiling masks, for we are no one to the majestic trees or the enormous ocean beside us.” —Hina Khalid