A Thinking Reed

  • What’s next for the world economy?

    A pendulum swing away from globalization and toward protectionism? I still have no idea how (if at all) we reconcile indefinite economic growth with environmental limits while at the same time attending to poverty and inequality. But I am pretty skeptical that “buy more stuff” is a viable long-term solution to our economic woes (never…

  • Was Narnia missing its sexy?

    British newcomer Barnes brings sexy back to ‘Narnia’ (via Christianity Today) I have to say, C. S. Lewis and sexy are not two things that usually go together in my mind. That said, I recently caught the trailer for Prince Caspian and thought it looked pretty good. But I’m darned if I can remember what…

  • Heath Ledger, R.I.P.

    This is pretty shocking. I’m not much of a celebrity-phile, but I always thought Ledger turned in good performances, even in his “fluffier” roles. A real shame. RIP.

  • Cap and Trade 101

    A helpful primer (via Gristmill).

  • What kind of religious “center”?

    Bill McKibben reviews two books on Christianity: one by Harvard preacher Peter Gomes, and the other a book from the Barna Institute, the Gallup of evangelical Protestantism, reporting on young people’s perceptions of Christianity. Gomes is an interesting guy: a black, old-school New England conservative, Anglophile Baptist minister who happens to be gay. He’s widely…

  • Springtime for militarism

    John McCain has some admirable qualities and has taken some good stances in defiance of his party, but Justin Raimondo performs a salutary service in reminding us that McCain’s record on foreign policy has been not only consistently pro-war, but that he has consistently taken the maximally hawkish view on any given conflict (e.g. he…

  • Barth, Yoder, and the problem of war

    I assume that most readers of this blog also read Marvin’s site regularly, but in case you don’t, you should really check out his current series on Karl Barth and war: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 With more to come, including a “Yoderian” response to Barth’s position. See here for…

  • MLK and non-violence

    Given how Martin Luther King Jr. has become a kind of American plaster saint that politicians of all stripes routinely genuflect toward, it’s easy to forget how radical his message was: As I have walked among the desperate, rejected, and angry young men, I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve…

  • The surge a success?

    Andrew Bacevich is skeptical.

  • Friday metal – “alternative” metal edition

    Before there was grunge there were a host of bands that would eventually be lumped together as “alternative” who displayed significant metal influences, even if they blended them with funk, modern rock, industrial or other sounds. I cut my teeth as a teenager in the early 90s on a lot of this stuff, so it’s…