Therefore, in concert with our recent popes and bishops, we oppose the death penalty, whether a person on death row is guilty or innocent, on both theological and practical grounds. While we especially deplore and lament the killing of Troy Davis, we also decry the death sentences of the more than 3,200 inmates on death row and the 1,268 executions since the death penalty was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. We urge our nation to abolish capital punishment, and we also implore our churches to work unwaveringly to end it as well as all other threats to human life and dignity.

- A Catholic Call to Abolish the Death Penalty

Using the theme of “discipleship” found in the witness of the peace churches but neglected in Roman Catholic theology, this paper interrogates concrete practices of military training and culture in the contemporary United States. Viewed through the lens of discipleship, military training is described as a process of discipleship in its own right, including practices of conversion and deliberate conscience (de-) formation that are fundamentally at odds with Christian discipleship and ultimately destructive to both the soldier and the victims of the US military. American Catholics can learn much from the peace churches in terms of ecclesial praxis for resisting the "destructive obedience" that is central to military discipleship.

In agreement with theologians who are noting how popular music fulfills a religious function in people's lives, this paper gives a brief overview of the emergence of punk rock communities in the 1970s and '80s and the various ways that punk functions “religiously” for its participants. It then analyzes the way punk rock lifts up exemplars or “saints” who embody the diverse and often conflicting ideals of this movement and the ways in which punk rock “saints” challenge mainstream rock's patterns of “rock star religiosity.” Finally, it argues that this internal debate about the meaning of “saintly” figures in rock music has much to teach the Roman Catholic Church in its current debates about the meaning of saints in postmodern culture and that it can also provide an important critique of the enthusiasm with which emerging theologies of popular music approach rock music as a “religion.”

Around 11 am on March 2, 2011, I started recording a 5-song EP at Dave Klug’s studio in Pittsburgh, PA. Less than 24 hours later, the EP is mixed, mastered, and released. (Beat that, Radiohead.) No Matter How Deep The Darkness, He Descends Deeper Still is available as a pay-what-you-want digital download here. The EP features alternate acoustic versions of two songs from the forthcoming M Iafrate & The Priesthood album Christian Burial (“Horse Birth” and “God O God”) as well as three covers: “Take My Will” by Jandek, “Stick In The Mud” by The Jayhawks, and the popular Catholic hymn “I Am The Bread Of Life.” Enjoy! And thanks in advance for whatever you can throw in the collection plate!

More than just the standard retelling of the horrors of the Bible, Stark's "confrontational" method of reading scripture exposes the deadly contradictions of biblical fundamentalism and gives thoughtful Christians a way forward by allowing them to "own" these troubling texts in a new way. Readers will breathe a deep sigh of relief at his suggestion that we can view the "dark side" of the Bible as scripture precisely through our condemnation of the way it too often portrays the character of God and the things that God calls human beings to do to one another. Perhaps most importantly, Stark provides a model for theology that is committed to hearing the voice of the victims of history, especially the victims of our own religious traditions. A powerful book.

You are really going to like this book. Congrats, Thom.