A Thinking Reed

  • The Groaning of Creation 5: Heaven can wait

    As we saw in the previous post, Southgate affirms some kind of afterlife as an eschatological recompense for non-human animals who were deprived of the opportunity to flourish in this life, a strategy taken by many theodicies that focus on human suffering. But, as Southgate recognizes (and as we’ve discussed here before), “if an altered…

  • The Groaning of Creation 4: There’s a wideness in God’s mercy

    In Chapter 5, Southgate directly takes up the question of an afterlife for non-human animals. This is another main plank in his evolutionary theodicy, alongside the “only way” argument. Even given that the evolutionary process is necessary to give rise to the values of finite creatures, countless animals still lead lives best described in Hobbes’…

  • The Groaning of Creation 3: God so loved the world

    In Chapter 4, Southgate develops a trinitarian “theology of creation,” an admittedly speculative enterprise that seeks to shine some light on the relationship between the triune God and an evolutionary process that operates according to Darwinian principles. Taking up the theme of kenosis, Southgate suggests that God’s self-emptying love is foundational both to intra-trinitarian relationships…

  • Friday metal – the boys are back in town edition

    I’m about one-third of the way through the new Metallica disc, “Death Magnetic,” and so far I’m very pleased. I had abandoned hope that there would be another good album from them in my lifetime. I might write up some more thoughts later, maybe with a broader appreciation of the band I started listening to…

  • “Idolatry and fear”

    Wonderful post from Kim Fabricius at “Connexions.” UPDATE: See part II, prompted by a comment from yours truly.

  • Why I won’t vote third party

    Looks like Ron Paul, whom some of his supporters hoped would make a third-party run for president, is urging people who are sick of war, assaults on civil liberties, and, er, the Fed to vote for a third party–any third party! I appreciate the arguments that the two major parties and their candidates are either…

  • On the radio: Greenwald and Yglesias

    Very interesting discussion between Salon’s Glenn Greenwald and uber-blogger Matt Yglesias on the press’s coverage of the campaign. But one of the most important points comes out toward the end where Greenwald and Yglesias both agree that the Obama campaign has, disappointingly, shifted gears since the primary, where Obama seemed to welcome a debate with…

  • Tragedy of the commons

    I picked up this little primer on climate policy at the library and it offers a very lucid, and surprisingly substantial given its length, introduction to the various tools for responding to climate change (carbon tax, cap-and-trade, renewable energy investment, etc.), their pros and cons, and which players support or oppose which policies. He convinced…

  • Where the wild things are

    I don’t know what I think of the idea, but this is the most interesting thing I’ve read in a while. (In other words, it’s not about the election.) “Re-wilding,” in the words of one of the scientists interviewed, is the “super-colliding superconducting experiment of ecology.”

  • Yes we can

    Defend the Constitution, that is. I’m with John (and Ezra Klein): more please.