ROUNDTABLE: Cosmopolitan Disinterestedness and the Care for the Poor

Last Thursday, Daniel Watkins – a grad student in the history department, and a friend of the house – led a roundtable discussion on “Cosmopolitan Disinterestedness and the Care for the Poor.”  It was really interesting, and our participants had a lot to say in response. 
The term “cosmopolitan disinterestedness” is descriptive of where we are [...]

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SCRIPTURE STUDY: Is Resistance Futile?

When God invites Moses to undertake the mission to confront Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt in chapters 3 and 4 in Exodus, four times Moses raises objections to the plan. First, he argues “Who am I that I should go …?” (3:11). Next, he objects that “they will not believe [...]

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UPDATE: 10/22

Dear friends, 
Special THANKS for all the extra help this weekend from so many of you! We provided meals this weekend for a gathering of about 100 Catholic peace activists from Pax Christi Florida, in addition to the regular Dorothy’s Cafe, and it was quite a lot of work. But it was also really rewarding and [...]

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ROUNDTABLE: Crossing the Border

This past Thursday, we discussed immigration, specifically Mexican immigration, with Leah Sarat, a doctoral student in Religion and the Americas at the University of Florida. Leah shared stories from her recent research trip to an indigenous Mexican community in which many of the members had crossed the Mexico-US border once or several times. After making [...]

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SCRIPTURE STUDY: Moses Goes from the Sideline to the Frontline

Last week, we started to look at a long section (2:23-4:17) of the story commonly referred to as “the call of Moses.” In 2:23-3:10, there are several things we want to note which give context to the overall passage. The first is that a long time has passed following Moses’ murder of the Egyptian, subsequent [...]

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UPDATE: OCTOBER 16, 2008

Dear friends, 
Folks at the house all feel that yesterday’s cafe went really well–beautiful weather, good food, happy guests, and a great crew from St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Middleburg joining us to help serve and share in our meal. I had the opportunity to speak with the group of volunteers from St. Luke’s earlier in the [...]

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ROUNDTABLE: Gandhi

Fr. Jim Wright, Episcopalian priest and executive director of the Alachua County Coalition for the Homeless and Hungry, led the roundtable discussion tonight on Gandhi.  His presentation focused on Gandhi’s time in South Africa and how his experience of discrimination there influenced his embrace of satyagraha, or ”soul/truth force,” as a means of nonviolent resistance.
After his presentation, we discussed the [...]

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UPDATE: October 8, 2008

Dear friends, 
Thanks to everyone who came out for the anniversary party yesterday! About 150 or so friends, volunteers, supporters, former guests, and others showed up to celebrate with us. Click here to see photos of the party. We are grateful to all of you who brought food, especially the Servants of Christ Anglican Church; to [...]

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SCRIPTURE STUDY: Moses Whacks Egyptian, Solves Nothing

The Exodus story so far has unfolded against the backdrop of the oppression of the Israelites by Egyptian state power (under the direction of the Egyptian “god-king,” Pharaoh), as well as the resistance of both Hebrew and Egyptian women (the midwives, Moses’ mother and sister; Pharaoh’s daughter and her handmaids) to the official policies of [...]

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