A Thinking Reed

  • Saved by theology

    So, today at church I was roped in to assisting with communion at the last minute, something I’ve never done before. I was distributing the wine, which we do by pouring it from a chalice into tiny plastic cups that people take from a tray on their way to the altar rail. However, if, for…

  • Hmmm…

    Via Derek: You’re St. Justin Martyr! You have a positive and hopeful attitude toward the world. You think that nature, history, and even the pagan philosophers were often guided by God in preparation for the Advent of the Christ. You find “seeds of the Word” in unexpected places. You’re patient and willing to explain the…

  • Saturday metal – freezing cold pre-Inaugural edition

    Some very cool animation in this video from French enviro-metallers Gojira: All The Tears

  • All creatures great and small

    I just noticed that the Humane Society has put together a rather nice page on Animals and Religion and produced a 25-minute documentary called “Eating Mercifully.” The HSUS’s approach to religion is similar to its approach to the public at large: it assumes that principles of compassion and merciful treatment are already embedded in our…

  • “Sea kittens”?

    Stentor at debitage has some worthwhile thoughts on PeTA’s latest campaign, which he aptly describes as “merely silly, not offensive and progressive-coalition-fracturing,” in contrast to some of their others. Seems PeTA wants people to start calling fish “sea kittens” in order to create more empathy for them. Recognizing that fish are sentient creatures with their…

  • Earthbound and down

    Also from the Atlantic–a primer on Battlestar Galactica (may contain spoilers for the uninitiated). The anecdote about Dirk Benedict, who played the original series’ “Starbuck” (and “Face” on the A-Team!), being outraged that the character was re-imagined as a woman is pretty funny. I’m really looking forward to the new season starting this Friday (or…

  • Fixing the imperial presidency?

    Here’s an interesting piece in the new Atlantic arguing that the Founders messed up in designing the presidency and offering some suggestions for fixing it. Despite the author’s suggestion that the abuses of the last 8 years might get the public interested in this, I’m skeptical, not least because it wouldn’t serve a particular institutional…

  • God is love: a workable theology

    A few days ago bls at The Topmost Apple posted a critique of this First Things article by Philip Turner on the “unworkable theology” of the Episcopal Church. In Turner’s view, liberal, mainline Protestantism prizes “inclusion” above all else and thus has reduced God to “love, pure and simple.” In response, bls pointed out that,…

  • Adventures in brown liquor

    I’d been hearing for a while that rye whisky was making something of a comeback. It seems that it was the preferred whisky of pre-Prohibition America and in fact many classic cocktails (e.g. the Manhattan, my fave) were originally made with rye. Happily, we’re not far from this place, so I went this weekend and…

  • Return of a blogger

    I’m happy to see that Andy of Sinning Boldly has returned to blogging after a lengthy hiatus. Right now is looks like his focus is a little more on the devotional/spiritual side of things. Welcome back, Andy!