A Thinking Reed

  • The worst kind of cocktail party – one with no booze

    Marvin, Jonathan, and Jennifer have been going around a bit about some of the same issues I talked about here regarding Christians, patriotism, politics, and Stanley Hauerwas. Now, unlike these three, I’ve never formally studied theology, much less under the man himself, so I always feel a little underqualified jumping into these discussions. But, fools…

  • More on the churches and patriotism

    After reading this comment thread over at Chris’ blog, it ocurred to me that there might be a communication breakdown of sorts between mainline Protestant and evangelical responses to the quote from Stanley Hauerwas under discussion. When Hauerwas first started churning out his jeremiads, they were aimed primarily at the liberal mainline establishment that, in…

  • The limits of Pollanism

    UPDATE: Now with links! The current issue of the American Conservative, in addition to featuring John‘s very cool cover story on “conservative cuisine” (which I may blog about later), carries Rod “Crunchy Con” Dreher’s interview with Michael Pollan. This passage, where Dreher tries to draw a connection between Pollan’s “organic” conception of the environment and…

  • Saturday metal – Independence Day edition (one day late)

    Iced Earth, “Declaration Day” (Yes, the line “freedom is not free” actually occurs in the song. And I have no idea what that freaky animation’s all about.)

  • How should Christians celebrate the 4th?

    Speaking of Christians and patriotism, I liked this piece from the Christian Century. I mean, I personally spent the 4th helping my wife study for the bar exam, but in principle I like what this article has to say.

  • Christianity, patriotism, and divided loyalties

    Ben Myers posted this bombastic Stanley Hauerwas quote (is there any other kind?) for Independence Day: I assume most of you are here because you think you are Christians, but it is not all clear to me that the Christianity that has made you Christians is Christianity. For example: How many of you worship in…

  • Protecting basic constitutional liberties is not a boutique issue

    See Glenn Greenwald and Daniel Larison.

  • McKibben’s journey

    The Nation has a nice overview of Bill McKibben’s writing, focusing on some of the tensions and evolution in his thought. McKibben’s more recent writing (e.g. Deep Economy) has taken a turn away from the wilderness ethic and towards a focus on “durable communities” and responsible stewardship. Our technological prowess, it seems, will inevitably change…

  • More from Rowe

    A few days ago I wrote a post that took as its jumping-off point an article on the shortcomings of GDP by Jonathan Rowe in Harper‘s. I see here that Mr. Rowe has an entire archive of articles written from what I would describe as a generally decentralist green/left perspective that I find highly congenial.…

  • Happy birthday, America

    Just a short re-cap: All men (heck, let’s say “people”) – created equal Those people – they’ve got rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness And the government? Its job is to protect those rights The government ultimately answers to the people Judging by the way our leaders act, and what we go…