At The Corner, Marc Thiessen responded to my contention that his defense of torture is more in line with the tradition of Zeus and Odin than of Moses and Christ. I’m not surprised that he would take offense at such a suggestion, but since he is a Catholic I presumed he would provide a . . . . Continue Reading »
Yesterday, I posted about a bioethics article that advocated dropping human intrinsic dignity as a fundamental premise to be applied in bioethical analyses. This meme is profoundly dangerous to the medically vulnerable. Moreover and alas, human unexceptionalism is the mainstream view in . . . . Continue Reading »
Over the past few years we’ve seen controversies arise when ministers consider denying communion to unrepentant politicians. But there once was a time when pastors were so hardcore they were willing to refuse to give the sacrament to a contrite Founding Father . . . on his deathbed! Although . . . . Continue Reading »
Christopher Caldwell on how sentimental chronology skews our sense of time : Time may slow down from hour to hour, but from year to year it has a uniform tendency to accelerate. We can demonstrate this with a little game. We are now in the year 2010. Measure the number of years back to a certain . . . . Continue Reading »
No doubt the publication of a commentary on Genesis by our own R. R. Reno will be of interest to First Things readers. It’s the latest installment of the big Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible series that he also oversees as general editor. The series has already stirred things up in . . . . Continue Reading »
A person is not always a human being, but is a human being always a person? Examples abound of non-human persons: Christians believe that the Godhead consists of “three Persons of one substance”; U.S. judges have ruled that corporations are “artificial persons”; fans of Star . . . . Continue Reading »
For all of you Walker Percy fans (and I am one of them), be on the lookout for the new Walker Percy documentary by Winston Riley. Mr. Riley’s previous documentaryon the artist Walter Andersonwon a number of awards and was broadcast on PBS. According to Mr. Riley, the Percy film is . . . . Continue Reading »
Christianity Today recently added a regular feature called “Who’s Next” that highlights younger evangelicals who are pursuing interesting projects, and to introduce them and their goals to their readers. The first interviewnow onlineis by one of the sharpest young . . . . Continue Reading »
A blessed and happy Epiphany to you all. The Epiphany of our Lord was, in the ancient church, a day that was set aside to commemorate not only the visitation of the Magi, but the Lord’s Baptism, and his first miracle. The season of Epiphany was developed to offer separate meditation and . . . . Continue Reading »
Leadership Journal just released a responsible evaluation of the online church movement by Chad Hall. Hall’s general take is that the question of online church is forcing evangelicals to re-evaluate the presuppositions they are making in their own churches (an argument I am rather . . . . Continue Reading »