On the same day my husband applied for Social Security benefits, we watched the purple-faced Bill Clinton defending his record as terrorist hunter-in-chief in the infamous Fox-TV interview with Chris Wallace . All the obfuscations the former president brought to bear also brought to mind the . . . . Continue Reading »
For the first time in recent memory, Anglican conservatives have something to cheer about. Ever since the Episcopal Church’s general convention in June, things have been moving rapidly in the Anglican world, and this past week was no exception. There were not one but two events sure to shape . . . . Continue Reading »
Mirror of Justice , a website for Catholic law professors, has been the forum for some exceptionally thoughtful debates about the implications of Catholic social thought for questions of law and public policy. One question that has been explored in a sustained way since the 2004 presidential . . . . Continue Reading »
Whether or not one agrees with the pope’s historical analysis of de-Hellenization, he is surely right about its profound and deleterious influence. It is plainly the case that most Western intellectuals view Christianity in the same way that Emperor Manuel II Paleologus viewed Islam¯as a . . . . Continue Reading »
You recall those awful years of John Paul II’s authoritarian and repressive pontificate when the ailing pontiff, taking advice only from a cabal of right-wing intimates and yes men, turned the Catholic Church into a one-man show. Surely you remember. Writers such as Malcolm Moore, John . . . . Continue Reading »
In spite of the general malaise that looms over England like a malignant cloud, there are still a handful of beacon-like intellects shining forth in the darkness. One of these is Niall Ferguson, who recently wrote an article in the UK’s Daily Telegraph in which he asked his readers to imagine . . . . Continue Reading »
Death threats issued to Pope Benedict XVI, Muslims burning the Pope in effigy, promises to conquer Rome and slit the throats of Christians, at least seven churches in the region of Palestine torched, a nun murdered in front of a children’s hospital in Somalia, claims of Benedict participating in . . . . Continue Reading »
OK, this announcement probably won’t end up in your "News You Can Use" file, but Richard Wolin has recently reported in The Chronicle of Higher Education that Michel Foucault died a humanist! (Who knew?) Perhaps I am only dating myself by attaching any significance to such news. So . . . . Continue Reading »
In a speech at the University of Regensburg concerning the relation of faith and reason, Benedict XVI quotes from an obscure fourteenth-century dialogue by Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus. "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new," the emperor says to his Persian . . . . Continue Reading »
The passage quoted by Pope Benedict XVI in his speech at the University of Regensburg that caused an uproar in the Muslim world was written by Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. The "empire" over which he presided consisted of the city of Constantinople, a tiny . . . . Continue Reading »
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