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Visitation of the BVM
(click for larger image) From John Paul II’s Redemptoris Mater: When Elizabeth greeted her young kinswoman coming from Nazareth, Mary replied with the Magnificat. In her greeting, Elizabeth first called Mary “blessed” because of “the fruit of her womb,” and then she called her “blessed” because of her faith (cf. Lk. 1:42, 45). These two…
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The triumph of the wine
This Slate article makes some speculations about why the popularity of wine in the US is skyrocketing while that of beer seems to be remaining, um, flat. The author argues that it has to do with selling a certain lifestyle, and beer isn’t keeping up. He says that wine, which used to be perceived as…
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Religious myths
I got my hands on a copy of Keith Ward’s Is Religion Dangerous? courtesy of our local library and have been enjoying it very much. In the introduction alone Ward takes on several myths about the study of religion that tend to be propagated by its cultured despisers: 1. “Religion” is a univocal term. Ward…
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Notes on an animal theodicy and soteriology
Early in my blogging career (on Verbum Ipsum, my Blogspot predecessor to ATR) I, perhaps with delusions of grandeur, wrote a five-part series called “The Atonement and the Problem of Evil” (the series is archived here: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V). My reason for writing it was a hunch that…
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Debating tactics
Only in Berkeley would you get a debate between Christopher Hitchens who thinks that all religion is evil and Chris Hedges who merely thinks that all “religious orthodoxy” is evil billed as a debate over the merits of religion. Hitchens seems to like soft targets; I’d like to see him debate a serious orthodox Christian…
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Beyond the meat (or “meat”) centered diet
This article makes a fair point that meat substitutes are not automatically healthier than actual meat, but it also seems to presuppose a fairly unimaginative version of vegetarian eating. Personally I eat very little in the way of meat substitutes. Sure I enjoy the occasional veggie burger or Quorn pattie, but I would say that…
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Links of interest
Some stuff worth reading from the past couple of days: On the new genre of “food ethics” writing. The promise of religious environmentalism. The legacy of Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul II. Libertarianism vs. “low-tax liberalism” Ron Paul shakes up the GOP.
