The Editors

Garment District

Take an informative and engaging trip in the documentary film The Secret Life of Your Clothes. Presenter Ade Adepitan follows the trail of garments donated to charity to the biggest importer of secondhand clothes, Ghana, revealing the intersections of consumption culture, Ghanaian fashion, and globalization. www.bullfrogfilms.com

The People’s Work

How can intercultural music and liturgy prepare us for the work of reconciliation and justice? Experienced worship leader and trainer Sandra Maria Van Opstal explores the pragmatic and profound challenges and blessings of multiethnic worship in her book The Next Worship: Glorifying God in a Diverse World. IVP Books

HARPERONE'S RECENTLY released The Study Quran (following The Study Bible and Commentary on the Torah) promises to be a needed resource in a time of religious turmoil: A new English translation, it is also the first to provide extensive, line-by-line commentary by scholars on meaning and context drawn from hundreds of years of Islamic tradition. Included are several essays on specific themes—including war and peace, science, and human rights.

The process used to shape this work was unique as well. The team of editors led by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., strove to include perspectives and interpretations from the broadest range of Muslim communities—Sunni, Shia, and others—without lifting one above the others. The team’s goal was to create an in-depth, accurate, and accessible translation for use by Muslims, scholars, students of religion, and anyone else wanting to rise above today’s media chatter and explore this sacred text. 

—The Editors

From the introduction:

The Quran is the constant companion of Muslims in the journey of life. Its verses are the first sounds recited into the ear of the newborn child. It is recited during the marriage ceremony, and its verses are usually the last words that a Muslim hears upon the approach of death. In traditional Islamic society, the sound of the recitation of the Quran was ubiquitous, and it determined the space in which men and women lived their daily lives; this is still true to a large extent in many places even today. As for the Quran as a book, it is found in nearly every Muslim home and is carried or worn in various forms and sizes by men and women for protection as they go about their daily activities. ... The Quran is an ever present source of blessing or grace ( barakah) deeply experienced by Muslims as permeating all of life.

Letters to the Editor from Sojourners readers

Being Between

The documentary film Am I: Too African to be American or Too American to be African? focuses on young African women who live in the U.S. and West Africa but identify with both cultures. How do they work out unique twists in the issues of race, complexion, gender, and family heritage?

Revealing the Word

Nyasha Junior, assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Temple University, has written An Introduction to Womanist Biblical Interpretation, an accessible and forward-looking guide to African-American women’s contributions to biblical scholarship. WJK Press

Taking our cue from these leaders whose understanding of justice is rooted in a multilingual, multicultural context, we published the cover story in both English and Spanish — a first for Sojourners. For English-only speakers, we hope this serves as a reminder that our own perspective is limited. For those who regularly navigate multiple languages and cultures, especially Latino and Latina Christians, we hope you’ll continue to heed the challenge of Bishop Minerva Carcaño: “It is our responsibility to be a voice for justice and to be able to sit at the table with others.”

In the spirit of Aug. 26's Women’s Equality Day, we took to social media and the blogosphere to celebrate the ratification of the 19th Amendment and 95 years of women voting in the U.S. However, as some of our supporters rightly pointed out, that landmark constitutional victory did not guarantee all women the right to vote. Our efforts should have acknowledged that painful reality.

As we look back at the suffrage movement, it’s important to acknowledge how racism tainted this historic fight for the vote. Many black women activists — such as Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, and Anna Julia Cooper — were staunch supporters of women’s rights, yet experienced discrimination from fellow suffragists and white supremacists. These divisions, along with conflicting political interests, caused immense friction within the suffrage movement, thus revealing the challenges of fighting sexism in a deeply racist society.

Raising Themselves
The film Know How, a musical written and acted by foster-care youth, tells interwoven stories of coming of age within a dysfunctional system, the losses and dangers these young people face, and their against-the-odds struggle to persevere. First Run Features

Beyond the Food Drive
In Charity Detox: What Charity Would Look Like If We Cared About Results, Robert D. Lupton asserts that poverty must be addressed “through development, not through one-way giving.” With anecdotes and examples, he explains development strategies such as fund reallocation, reciprocal exchange models, and neighborhood reconciliation. Harper One

Four August culture recommendations from our editors.