A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

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  • Justification and liberation

    Since the previous post on Braaten’s soteriology made it sound like he had a completely negative view of Liberation Theology, I thought I’d try to set out the position he sketches in his chapter on the Two Kingdoms principle, which tries to put liberation in the context of eschatology and the coming Kingdom of God. Read more

  • Localism versus/and nationalism?

    I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little bit sympathetically disposed to Bill Kauffman’s paean to neo-secessionists in Vermont, but I’m not so sure that ultra-localism is the solution to the problems that the secessionists identify. For one thing, to the extent that they deplore the effects of the global marketplace, Read more

  • Peak oil and the end of liberalism

    Patrick Deneen writes that modern liberalism – “the philosophy premised upon a belief in individual autonomy, one that rejected the centrality of culture and tradition, that eschewed the goal or aim of cultivation toward the good established by dint of (human) nature itself, that regarded all groups and communities as arbitrarily formed and therefore alterable Read more

  • Friday metal (old school edition) – Metallica, “Four Horsemen” (Live, 1985)

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  • Kyrie eleison

    This is just horrible. Read more

  • Current ATR candidate rankings (subject to change at my whim)

    Here are my current (extremely lukewarm) preferences for presidential candidates in both parties, confining myself to the declared major candidates*, from most to least preferred: Dems: 1. Richardson 2. Edwards 3. Obama 4. Clinton GOP: 1. Romney 2. McCain 3. Guliani At this point none of the GOP candidates rise close enough to the level Read more

  • Some metal for the weekend

    Here’s the first single, “Redemption,” from the just-released Shadows Fall album Threads of Life. Good stuff. It’s always fun to read reviews from die-hard fans who are horrified that the singer is – ugh- singing! Sell outs! I’m pretty sure this line of criticism is unique to the genre. Read more

  • Easter!

    Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on Read more

  • Good Friday

    Psalm 22 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Read more

  • Notes on Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo: 6 (the brief version)

    I just lost a long post on the next couple of chapters of Cur Deus Homo, so this is the abridged version… The concept of God’s honor is central to Anselm’s scheme, but it has also been severely criticized and (I would argue) often misunderstood. Anselm himself may be partly responsible for some of the Read more