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Scientific Aesthetes
Curtis White observes in The Science Delusion that scientists regularly appeal, without admitting it, to extra-scientific values. Natural…
First Links — 6.4.14
Should a Mental Illness Mean You Lose Your Kid? Seth Freed Wessler, ProPublica Thomas Hardy in Judea…
Total Clipse of the Sacred Heart
Clipse began their career with a funeral announcement: their own. I think that’s what drew me to…
The Contradictions of Piketty’s Capital
I’ve started reading this year’s big book, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Fascinating stuff, at…
Ancient Synaesthesia
“Beyond the visual paradigm” was the challenge issued by the organizers of the symposium that eventually produced…
Culture War, Civil War
Political histories of the Religious Right miss the underlying ferment that gave rise to the movement, argues…
Silent Injustice
Isaiah uses the verb “be silent” (chashah) seven times. Nearly every time, it is Yahweh who is…
Like Brightness
Yahweh’s Servant will rejoice and won’t go silent until: A. Goes forth B. as brightness C. her…
Temple and Apocalypse
John and Gloria Ben-Daniel argue in their The Apocalypse in the Light of the Temple that the temple…
The Bible in the Ancient East
Jeffrey J. Niehaus’s Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology is a superb introduction to the subject. In…
#BeatAdolf?
The first fifteen minutes of Saving Private Ryan and the jump sequence in the second episode of…
How I Evolved on Gay Marriage
After my Bloggingheads discussion on gay marriage and related matters with Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern, a student at a…
This Post Might Kill You
It seems that every few years something new is added to the list of cancer-causing products. Once…
“Hey Kid”
Do First Things readers care that the American Theatre Wing’s 2014 Tony Awards are happening this weekend?…
The Barmen Declaration After Eighty Years
May 31st marked the eightieth anniversary of the Barmen Declaration. Written primarily by Karl Barth on behalf…
