A Thinking Reed

  • October reading notes

    A smattering of theology, philosophy, and even some fiction this month: The Environment and Christian Ethics by Michael Northcott. This is part of Cambridge University Press’s “New Studies in Christian Ethics” series. Northcott is (at least at the time of this book’s publication) a lecturer in theology at the University of Edinburgh. This text is…

  • The old new atheism

    Philosopher Antony Flew, a longtime atheist, made headlines a couple years ago when he admitted that he had become convinced of the existence of God. He’s now published a book setting out in detail his reasons for changing his mind in detail. Flew hasn’t to my knowledge become a Christian or any other kind of…

  • A church wrestles with capital punishment

    You might recall the recent case of the woman and her two daughters in Connecticut who were brutally murdered by intruders in their home this summer (the husband survived). This article in the NY Times looks at some of the tensions in the family’s United Methodist congregation, which has a history of outspoken opposition to…

  • Libertarians as social parasites?

    George Monbiot writes a scathing column about a British scientist-turned-businessman who used biological research to argue for laissez-faire but then turned to the gummint for a bailout when his business failed. The charge of hypocrisy seems accurate in this particular case, but applied to libertarians as a whole this column is a cheap shot, especially…

  • For Reformation Sunday: “Private judgment” as guardian of consciences

    Readers may know that Lutherans and some other Protestants commemorate October 31 as “Reformation Day,” since it’s the date of Martin Luther’s posting of his 95 theses in Wittenberg. As has happened with a lot of other church feasts and commemorations, this tends to get moved to the nearest Sunday, which falls this year on…

  • Friday metal – As I Lay Dying, “Nothing Left”

    A while back I posted a link to a video from this band along with a few other “Christian metal” acts. This past weekend we made a pilgrimage to Target in Alexandria – the first time we’d been there since moving in back in July, so lots of household items to stock up on –…

  • Transcript of Rowan Williams talk on the new atheism

    If you’re interested but don’t want to sit through the video of Rowan Williams’ talk on Dawkins and the new atheism that I linked to last week, you can read a transcript here.

  • Pete Stark learned to love Big Brother

    Via Jim Henley I see that my former congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) has gotten himself into a heap of trouble on account of some intemperate remarks he made during the S-CHIP debate: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) filed to censure Stark in order to express his disgust with comments the lawmaker made last week…

  • Meet the new boss…

    “[W]hen it comes to shaping future foreign policy for either party, hawks and internationalists are in, doves and realists are out.”

  • The church’s one foundation

    Christopher and Derek both have strong postings about the need for the church to remain grounded in the gospel first and foremost. You’d think this would go without saying but alas it ain’t necessarily so. They both emphatically affirm that the church should be involved in works of mercy and social justice, but if it…