The social entrepreneur has gained prominence as a cultural figure whose inspirational storytelling promotes a working life good for the self and good for the world. Recent examples of allegedly aspirational but actually malfeasant entrepreneurs, however, have raised public questions about this figure’s promise to unite personal, professional, and public aspirations within a single identity. By critically examining the communication patterns of social entrepreneurs narrating personal and organizational spirituality, this article argues for a shift from inspirational identity narratives that assume an individualist and instrumentalist model of communication to fellowship narratives that assume a collective and participatory model.

One pervasive feature of modern public discourse is the theoretical clash between the sacred and the profane. This tension often manifests itself in interminable conflicts between appeals to absolute values and consequentialist calculations of outcomes. In this essay, I examine Blaise Pascal’s famous Wager argument in light of the sacred/profane dichotomy. I argue that the central logical conflict in the Wager is Pascal’s attempt to warrant a sacred belief (the belief in God) through a profane, consequentialist calculation (the outcome of a bet). Since sacred appeals permeate modern political discourse, this essay examines the role of the sacred and the profane as competing modes of reasoning. Finally, I envision how a responsiveness to these differing logics can create a new empathetic and charitable approach to political, cultural, and moral controversy.

Research outlines positive associations between religiosity, forgiveness, and relational satisfaction. This mixed-methods analysis examines how religiosity influences transgressions and forgiveness among friends. A total of 251 adults described transgressions and forgiveness in their friendships, forgiveness-granting strategies, relational outcomes, and religiosity. Religious participants utilized more nonverbal and explicit strategies to communicate forgiveness than non-religious respondents. Religiosity was positively associated with a stable relational outcome, following forgiveness. An inductive analysis illuminated differences based on religiosity. Whereas non-religious respondents and Protestant females favored the discussion-based, conditional, and explicit forgiveness strategies, Protestant males and Catholics tended to withhold forgiveness following a relational transgression or even terminate the friendship.

Following the election of Donald Trump in 2016, both immigration and the refugee crisis became heated topics of debate within evangelical life as many feared possible terrorist attacks and cultural change, while others considered hospitality toward refugees as a core issue of the faith beckoning empathy and action. After framing Warner’s (2005) concept of poetic world making among religious publics and counterpublics through the use of sacred text, Leff’s (1997) discussion of hermeneutical rhetorics is invoked to reconsider differences within conservative evangelicalism, even while all interpretations are said to be grounded in Scripture. To develop a greater understanding of the differing vernaculars within evangelicalism and their enactment of imitatio, two sermonic discourses regarding immigration are placed in conversation to distinguish major differences between what is ultimately deemed a dominant political public and an orthodox counterpublic.