Here is a fair-and-balanced review: Peter Lawler is today’s wisest guide through the conceptual thicket of dignity, virtue, and democracy in America. His usual wit and charm are on display in this new book, a tour of technology and tradition, faith and freedom. Lawler doesn’t flinch from . . . . Continue Reading »
In today’s second “ On the Square ” article, Peter J. Leithart points out that what poets have always seen in love (“It’s a burning thing”) can be appreciated by theologians with equal attention—a lesson available to us since the Fall of our first parents. Most . . . . Continue Reading »
Many of us already suspect that many non science—and some scientist—boosters of GWH are ideological quasi religious fundamentalists. The religion’s dogma seeks to punish the rich West for the sins of our forebears by redistributing wealth and stopping our economies in their . . . . Continue Reading »
We all knew that when Stanley Hauerwas, a post-Constantinian if there ever was one, was given the opportunity to review Peter Leithart’s book Defending Constantine , things were going to get ugly. For a pacifist, Hauerwas sure can get rhetorically violent. Here is an excerpt from . . . . Continue Reading »
Distinguished sociologist Peter Berger defends what he regards as American civil religion, the first commandment of which is (he says) “Thou shalt be tolerant!” He takes as his text this story about an interfaith Thanksgiving service in suburban Westchester, New York. In the . . . . Continue Reading »
In today’s first “On the Square” article, David Hart reflects on the reality of holiness and the places we find it. “The wonderful thing about holiness, when you really encounter it, is that it testifies to itself,” he writes in The Abbot and Aunt Susie . This is . . . . Continue Reading »
I think of myself as a fairly jaundiced academic, unlikely to be taken aback by shrill, politically correct rhetoric. But I guess I’m wrong, because the crude pronouncements of Robert Orsi, holder of the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies at Northwestern University, shocked me. . . . . Continue Reading »
In a new twist on the “drag your wife out to your public confession of adultery” meme, televangelist Marcus Lamb has his wife confess his adultery for him:The confession was apparently prompted to preempt extortionists who were threatening to break the news unless Lamb coughed up $7.5 . . . . Continue Reading »
Along with his other dilemmas, Pope Benedict is also said to have a “genetically modified crop dilemma.” As New Scientist explained editorially: In a statement condemning opposition to GM [genetically modified] crops in rich countries as unjustified, a group of scientists including . . . . Continue Reading »
This is the Dutch in a nutshell: If it is “transparent,” then it is okay. That opens the door to a lot of wickedness. Take infanticide. Dutch doctors kill babies born with terminal and disabling conditions. But rather than being ashamed, some are apparently proud because it . . . . Continue Reading »
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