A Thinking Reed

  • More thoughts on omnipotence and creation

    In the previous post I talked about Jay McDaniel’s proposal for a revised account of divine omnipotence and creation based on the suggestion of a primordial chaos that coexists with God, a chaos out of which God creates the world and which limits the divine ability to shape creation. I agree with McDaniel about the…

  • Creation and omnipotence: a process perspective

    As a follow-up of sorts to my reading of Christopher Southgate’s The Groaning of Creation, I picked up Jay McDaniel’s Of God and Pelicans: A Theology of Reverence for Life, which Southgate refers to a number of times in his book. McDaniel is a process theologian who has also been influenced by feminist theology, as…

  • Getting desperate

    Palin: Obama “palling around with terrorists.” This is what happens when you don’t have anything substantive to run on, I guess.

  • A recommendation

    I keep meaning to link to the blog of Steven Waldman, the editor-in-chief of Beliefnet and author of a recent book on the religion of the Founders. Waldman offers thoughtful and even-handed commentary, usually focusing on the intersection of religion and politics. In other words: not like most blogs. So there–I’ve linked to it.

  • Re-thinking free trade

    You should check out this TNR piece by Chris Hayes, Washington editor of the Nation (and friend of this blog). Chris talked to a bunch of economists from across the political spectrum and noted a distinct sea change in attitudes toward free trade agreements (FTA). In essence: FTAs provide a measureable, though slight, increase in…

  • Veep blogging

    I don’t know that I have any unique perspective to add to the Biden-Palin debate. I think the c.w. is more or less correct that Palin avoided disaster–largely by sidestepping the questions and sticking to McCain campaign talking points (tax cuts! victory! maverick!). Probably not enough to turn the campaign around, but it may have…

  • John Stuart Mill – right about everything

    Mill believed in complete equality between the sexes, not just women’s colleges and, someday, female suffrage but absolute parity; he believed in equal process for all, the end of slavery, votes for the working classes, and the right to birth control (he was arrested at seventeen for helping poor people obtain contraception), and in the…

  • My only post on the financial crisis

    I hope you do not, dear reader, come here looking for informed commentary on economics and high finance. But, for what it’s worth, I’ve found Andrew Leonard’s column at Salon essential reading in recent days. It seems we have a plan, but with many of the details left to be revealed. Last night–again for what…

  • Anarchy, church, and utopia

    Marvin describes and interesting-sounding book comparing the situation of Christianity in contemporary Africa to the young Christian movement in the ancient world. One issue both face(d) is deciding which aspects or elements to preserve of the religious outlook that preceded Christianity. Christians in the ancient world divided between those, like Tertullian, who drew a bright…

  • Humane Society steps up its religion and animals program

    A report from the Boston Globe (via Episcopal Cafe). With a rising concern about things like fair trade and global warming within a lot of churches, will animal welfare start to make inroads? My sense is that this is still not on most churches’ radar screens. Perhaps out of a concern that focusing on animals…