Dear Revealer readers,

Welcome to our first issue in 2021! As we begin the new year, I have been reflecting on the Revealer’s many milestones from 2020. Last year, we launched our monthly podcast, sponsored three writing fellows, published two themed special issues, increased our readership, and provided important coverage of religion and the 2020 election, the pandemic, and movements for racial justice. We are committed to continuing this tradition of excellence in 2021.

Revealer Editor, Brett Krutzsch

As we head into this year, we are excited to launch a new column: “From the Margins.” Every other month, our columnist Daniel José Camacho will explore often neglected voices in national conversations about religion. Camacho’s newest articles will join his excellent two earlier Revealer pieces: “Moses Speaks Spanglish” and “On Evangelical Masculinities.” We are excited for you to see what he has planned for us.

Our February issue opens with two reflections on the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Sara Kamali leads the way with “The Fourteen Words: Religion and Racism in White Nationalist Domestic Terrorism,” where she explains some of the beliefs that are shared by several groups that stormed the Capitol. And in “The Barbarians at the Gate,” Daniel José Camacho compares the sack of Rome with the invasion of the Capitol.

The next three articles explore issues of justice and the complications of forgiveness. In her personal essay, “The Lineage Holders: Gender, Blurred Boundaries, and Buddhism,” Sarah Herrington recounts a fraught romantic relationship she had with a revered Buddhist teacher and the subsequent women she met in similar situations. In “On Objects, Trauma, and Loss,” Contributing Editor Kali Handelman interviews Laura Levitt about her new book The Objects that Remain and the power objects—from the clothing of a sexual assault survivor to the possessions of someone who died in the Holocaust—can posses. And in an excerpt from her new book The Forgiveness Tour, Susan Shapiro meets with a Holocaust survivor to discuss what he experienced at the hands of the Nazis and if he thinks forgiveness for such horrors is ever appropriate. (Shapiro previously published the American Jewish Press award-winning article “Forgiving the Unforgivable” in the Revealer‘s October 2019 issue.)

The February issue also features two articles about religion in current popular culture. In “Pastor Mary Cosby, Arranged Pentecostal Marriages, and the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” Ambre Dromgoole sheds light on the prevalence of arranged marriages within Black Pentecostal communities like the one depicted on the hit Bravo reality show. And in “Religion in Lovecraft Country,” J. Barton Scott reviews the racial and religious messages in HBO’s acclaimed new horror series.

We are also pleased to share the newest episode of the Revealer podcast: “Black Lives Matter and American Catholics.” Olga Segura joins us to discuss how the Catholic Church upholds white supremacy, why the Church should partner with Black Lives Matter, and how BLM’s priorities reflect Catholic social teachings. You can listen to this great episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

As we head into a new year, one with promises of a vaccine to curb the pandemic, and one where our political divisions seem as prominent as ever, the Revealer remains committed to providing you with first-rate analysis about how religion shapes so much of our world. We’re glad you’re here with us.

Yours,
Brett Krutzsch, Ph.D.