A Thinking Reed

  • Tradition as a source for liberating speech about God

    Granted my theological reading is pretty spotty to begin with, but a particular hole I’ve been meaning to fill has been feminist theology. So, when I saw a copy of Elizabeth Johnson’s She Who Is at a local used bookstore I decided to pick it up–and I’m glad I did. Not only does Johnson make…

  • Friday Metal: French revolution edition

    First Gojira, now these guys. The French are really making a play for metal powerhouse on the world stage.

  • Hebblethwaite on natural and revealed morality

    In his book Christian Ethics in the Modern Age, British philosopher-theologian Brian Hebblethwaite offers a nice summary of what I tend to think of as the classic Christian understanding of the nature of ethics: Christians certainly believe that all goodness stems from God and reflects both God’s own nature and His will for man. But…

  • Derek Webb

    I don’t usually listen to contemporary Christian music (though I do have a soft spot for Jars of Clay), but I’ve been listening to some Derek Webb after being tipped off by a review of his new album at PopMatters. It’s pretty interesting stuff: an eclectic mix of electronica and pop at times a bit…

  • Conditional and unconditional vegans

    Here is an interesting post on veganism that distinguishes what I would call “conditional” vegans from “unconditional” vegans. The former group opposes the current system of factory farming, but would, hypothetically at least, eat animals raised “humanely” and sustainably. They don’t think, in other words, that it’s inherently wrong for humans to use animals, just…

  • Orangutan and dog make friends

    This is pretty great:

  • The Trinity as a model for human society?

    From Mark D. Chapman’s article, “The Social Doctrine of the Trinity: Some Problems“: In these various different discussions of the implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for life together in society, there is an implicit assumption that the picture of the relationships between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is able to function as…

  • Two episodes from Buffy season 7 seems a bit dicey…

    But, otherwise, this is an interesting list of the top 25 “Whedonverse” episodes (i.e., shows from creator Joss Whedon, including, inter alia, Buffy, Angel, and Firefly).

  • (How) does Jesus reveal moral truth?

    It occurred to me after the last post that there might be a subset or version of the first view (God is necessary for us to know the difference between right and wrong) which has a stronger claim than I gave it credit for. That is the idea that moral truth is revealed in the…

  • Do we need God to be good?

    It’s often asserted, or assumed, that God is “necessary” for morality, not infrequently leading to furious argument about the relative virtues of believers and atheists. But there are several senses in which God might be related to morality, so it’s important to distinguish them: God is necessary for us to know the difference between right…