A Thinking Reed

  • 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…

  • Kinship and cultivation, Francis and Benedict

    Catholic theologian Denis Edwards’ Ecology at the Heart of Faith provides a good model of engaging environmental issues using the classic Christian theological tradition. In chapter 2 he discusses the controverted issue of the image of God and dominion over nature. He argues that the imago is best understood as the human capacity for interpersonal…

  • Cognitive ethology, the Left, faith, and dominion

    A long but worthwhile essay that to some extent recapitulates the argument made by John Gray in Straw Dogs. Gray’s contention was that the secular Left has largely jettisoned the metaphysics of Christianity but held on to its anthropocentric outlook and belief in a progressive history. Echoing Nietzsche, Gray argues that the scientific, secular outlook…

  • Climate action and public corruption

    A pork-ridden Waxman-Markey passed the House yesterday, and heaven only knows what version of the bill will come out of the Senate and the subsequent process of reconciling the two. George Monbiot calls the U.S. a “failed state” when it comes to climate action and says that addressing political corruption (“corporate money and an unregulated…

  • Barr on faith and evolution

    Since I was pretty critical of First Things a couple posts down, it seems only fair to note that Stephen Barr has been writing some excellent posts on Christianity and evolution (see here, here, and here).

  • Friday metal – Lamb of God, “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For”

    Lamb of God isn’t the most innovative band in the world, but they’re great at cranking out catchy, workmanlike, Southern-fried metal that fills the Pantera-shaped hole in your heart. (Some bad language)