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So You Want to Be An Author? (Part II)

A few months ago I listed four things to consider if you wanted to become an author. My post was rather pessimistic but it was downright sunny compared to this passage from a recent article by Jeffrey Tayler : Aspiring writers and journalists eager to quit their day jobs and freelance for a living . . . . Continue Reading »

What Shall I Read?

I have a very weird Lenten practice which I’ve attempted to hold to over the last few years. I’m a reader. I’ve always read books. It is the thing I am most likely to do given more than a few minutes free time. Somehow a few years back at the start of Lent, a rhyme that brides use . . . . Continue Reading »

The Most Reproduced Work of Art in the World

What would you guess is the most reproduced work of art in the world? A work of Islamic art? The Mona Lisa ? Monet’s Water Lillies (which can be found in the dorm room of every college-aged female in America)? The answer is likely to surprise you—unless you’re British It’s an . . . . Continue Reading »

Barry Hannah: Peaceful at Last

My home state of Mississippi breeds storytellers like Washington DC breeds scoundrels.  We lost a giant yesterday, Barry Hannah (1942 - 2010).  I met him a few times, once when I lived next door to his son and Barry rang my door bell by mistake (our apartments were . . . . Continue Reading »

Welcome to the Jewish Review of Books

David Klinghoffer, the “Kingdom of Priests” blogger at Beliefnet, was telling me the other day about the Orthodox shul in Seattle at which he davens. Very few members of the synagogue (the rabbi excepted) were raised in Orthodox homes. Almost all are Jews who embraced Orthodoxy as . . . . Continue Reading »

Rights, freedom and justice

The following was published in the 9 March 2009 issue of Christian Courier as part of my “Principalities & Powers” column:In our postchristian society, appeals to human rights have become the functional equivalent of the biblical prophets’ “thus saith the Lord.” . . . . Continue Reading »

On the History of Empires and Theology

Niall Ferguson provides a simple, clear, and insightful portrayal of the (potential) rise and fall of the American empire in his article Complexity and Collapse, Empires on the Edge of Chaos, from the March/April 2010 edition of Foreign Affairs. The thread of his analysis follows a thread provided . . . . Continue Reading »

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