A Thinking Reed

  • Friday metal – in defense of catchy songwriting

    Killswitch Engage’s new, self-titled album doesn’t break much new ground. It combines the same elements of hardcore, thrash, and soaring, anthemic choruses that we’ve come to expect from their last two discs (The End of Heartache and As Daylight Dies). The lyrics still dwell on lost love and being a positive force in the world…

  • Stumbling blocks

    There’s a good interview with Francis Collins, author of The Language of God, at Books & Culture. This passage in particular struck a chord with me: You take both the Bible and evolution seriously. Did the harmony you find between evolution and your faith just come naturally? You know, it really did. When I became…

  • Like a pope needs an encyclical

    I don’t know if I’ll get around to reading Caritas in Veritate in its entirety (so far I’ve only made it through the introduction), but John Schwenkler is going to be posting thoughts on each chapter once a week (see here for details), which will undoubtedly provide food for thought.

  • Book recommendation: James Garvey’s Ethics of Climate Change

    During my mini-vacation I read philosopher James Garvey’s book, The Ethics of Climate Change, which I highly recommend. It very lucidly lays out the moral issues and the kinds of responses they call for. I thought his discussion of what we know about the impact of climate change and how we should act in the…

  • On killing innocents

    Two links: Michael Jackson’s Death Means Little to Me McNamara’s Evil As I’ve pointed out before, one condition of any war being “just” according to traditional criteria would require a rigorous accounting for all the innocent lives lost and an equal weighing of those lives against any purported good that the war accomplishes. (And that’s…

  • Physician, heal thyself!

    Strangest thing I saw on my trip: a sidewalk pamphleteer handing out literature attacking President Obama’s “socialist” health care plan. In Canada.

  • Home again

    My lovely wife and I returned today from our great trip north. Montreal and Quebec City are both lovely, as are the people who live there, at least as far as I can tell. (I practiced saying “Je ne parle pas français” a lot.) We spent most of our time walking around soaking in the…

  • O Canada!

    Well, it’s Canada Day, and what better way to celebrate than by…going to Canada? That’s what I’m doing, anyway. My honey and I are leaving tomorrow for Montreal, followed by Quebec City (or just “Quebec” to the Canadians). It seems a bit unpatriotic to leave the country over Independence Day weekend, but I’ll think of…

  • Looking beyond the labels

    James McWilliams, author of the forthcoming Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly, looks at the lives of free-range pigs. While emphasizing that they’re far better off than their factory-farmed counterparts, McWilliams finds some serious ethical problems with the practice. McWilliams’ conclusion is a measured one: As responsible…

  • More on Anselm, death, and redemption

    Christopher has an excellent follow-up post on Anselm and atonement, addressing some of the worries I had about Jesus’ death being a payment of sorts. Instead of trying to summarize it, I encourage you to read the whole thing. Some of what Christopher wrote brought to mind a passage from Denis Edwards’ Ecology at the…