A Thinking Reed

  • Just in time for Reformation Day!

    My birthday’s coming up (it actually falls on the same day as a certain Reformer’s) and my parents sent me, a little on the early side, a box of goodies including Alister McGrath’s new book Christianity’s Dangerous Idea (thanks, Mom and Dad!). Despite the title, which seems to be a jab at Daniel Dennett’s Darwin’s…

  • Newt the environmentalist?

    Apparently Newt Gingrich is seeking to reinvent himself as a conservative environmentalist. David Roberts at Gristmill is skeptical, and contends that Newt-brand conservatism will always sacrifice the environment to its economic agenda when push comes to shove. Personally, I say with the endless parade of Bushes and Clintons dominating our politics, the last thing we…

  • Unresolved questions

    A couple of questions that I continue to turn over and which I’m not at all clear on the answers to: Is it necessary to seriously restrain economic growth for the sake of the environment (and ultimately ourselves) or can growth continue pretty much at present rates but in “sustainable” ways (with the help of…

  • A little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n’ roll

    You can listen to the new Robert Plant/Alison Krauss album here (click “Listen to album” on the top left). Good stuff. (via)

  • Rudy’s brain?

    I’m not wild about anybody currently running for president next year, but I’ve been convinced for a while now that Rudy Giuliani is objectively the worst candidate of either party in the 2008 race. He appears to display all the authoritarianism and militarism of the GOP circa 2007 without any shred of pro-life restraint or…

  • 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…