Via James K.A. Smith in this post on his blog In a shift of historic importance, America’s colleges and universities have largely abandoned the idea that life’s most important question is an appropriate subject for the classroom. In doing so, they have betrayed their students by depriving them of the chance to explore it in an organized way, before they Continue Reading
What SHOULD be a very sobering thought/observation: It was a big day for a general on Capitol Hill yesterday, as Gen. David Petraeus made his long-awaited “progress report” to a joint House committee. But one congressman remembered the last time a general’s testimony drew such public attention. It was on April 1967 that Gen. William Westmoreland made his speech to Continue Reading
Makes sense to me: Stated simply this is what I would like to propose:If we were to invest the same amount of time and energy into pursuing change through the Church that we invest into pursuing change through the government, then the payoff would be exponentially greater.Sure, I won’t deny that positive change can come through the government (or through Continue Reading
Larry over on his Perspectives blog asks some pointed questions about the role of the church in providing (or better, BEING) the alternative to the following trend that he articulates: The elevation of the individual to a privileged place in U.S. society has resulted in a cultural and philosophical shift away from community. Even our suburban lifestyles reflect the atomization Continue Reading
An important quote from Hauerwas, from the video I reference in my previous post According to Yoder, Christianity has been transformed by what is called The Constantinian shift”. Yoder’s understanding of the significance of that shift did not entail speculation about the sincerity of Constantine’s conversion. But rather, Yoder was much more interested in the ecclesiological and Christological implications of Continue Reading
From an excellent paper Symposium where Hauerwas responds to two accusations of being “sectarian” , and squarely confronts the issue of how justice-qua-justice differs from justice as located in the church: the fact that I have doubts about the existence of any universal theory of justice does not mean that I think the church should avoid attempts to articulate concretely how this Continue Reading
On the matter of “speaking in a relevant sense” where relevance involves both the communicative sense and an orthodox Christian sense: My position certainly does not entail a wholesale rejection of “secular civilization,” or even of liberalism. Indeed, I think liberalism has done much good and has results from which no one would wish to back away. In particular, liberalism Continue Reading
From the introduction (don’t know which page, but it’s probably the first or second page of the intro, judging from its location in the audio version…..update: page 5 , according to this PDF file) I like the premise of this book (well, given the subject matter, “Like” is not the best term), but here Hedges gives us some “reality” to Continue Reading
Chris Hedges piece, to look at as I listen to the audio book of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. The book is drawn from Hedge’s experience as a war correspondent and a prize winning writer ( he does a lot of pieces for Harper’s) He also looks at the sociological/psychological ploys of nations (such as ours) that Continue Reading
Gore’s major accusation is that the media, especially television and its ability to manipulate with imagery, is a major ally in the efforts of the elite to solidify their own influence and power. There is no doubt. Fox News , in the hands of one the world’s most ardent supporter of the dominance of the elite, Rupert Murdoch, is always Continue Reading
Rove and co. have a way of “pushing buttons” and manipulating everything, and David Kuo (previously mentioned author of Tempting Faith) recognized this in Rove’s cynical manipulation of the “faith based initiative” with no apparent intention to actually implement or support such a thing (ie: Rove to a faith based committee member who was pressing for some administrative support:”Just get Continue Reading
This from Assault on Reason is a good example of the stuff I bought the book to read about: The perpetrators have clearly assumed that they have little to fear from public outrage and that very few people will learn about their misdeeds.All of them assume an ignorant public. Bush would not be able credibly to label a bill that Continue Reading
I asked the question on July 4 before heading over to visit with my Mom and Dad on my Dad’s 75th birthday. Tonight, after being a couch potato all evening for about 5 hours, I am ill equipped to answer or to elaborate. My son is at work and the wife and daughter are up in Cincinnati. In the past, I Continue Reading
The criminal George Bush is above the law. Nuff said. That’s what he says with his absurd defense of behavior that, uhhh… he sanctioned himself, along with his cohorts in crime, Cheney and Rove. I’ll not spend too much time on this. Not worth it. Scum. My only hope in this case is that it backfires on the idiot, and Continue Reading
Last Saturday I posted about how I thought Evan Almighty was “fun”. I stick to that. I enjoyed it. But that doesn’t mean I approved of it as a masterpiece, or especially as a theological piece. In that, it had many problems of course, as movies usually do that attempt to appeal to a “wide audience” and “derive” something “relevant” Continue Reading