A Thinking Reed

  • Stark first uncloseted “nontheist” in Congress

    According to this website, Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) is the first member of Congress to openly identify as a “nontheist.” Incidentally, Stark used to be my congressman, or, more accurately I guess, I used to be his constituent. He is, not surprisingly for the San Francisco Bay Area, a very liberal Democrat. (I’m pretty sure…

  • Wright on Lewis and some quibbles

    Readers might be interested in this critical appreciation of C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity by none other than N.T. Wright (who’s own Simply Christian has been called a Mere Christianity for the twenty-first century). Wright has much praise for Lewis of course, as well as some criticism. Some of the criticism hits the target, some of…

  • Chuck Hagel and the need for a “serious” antiwar candidate

    The latest news still has Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel delaying his decision on the possibility of a presidential bid. While it’s true that Hagel isn’t strictly anti-war or non-interventionist (and, indeed, has been a big supporter of the Bush administration on most issues), his relatively critical voice would be welcome in the primary debates, especially…

  • Big Sister

    I’m not a Barack Obama booster, but this is pretty amusing (via Andrew Sullivan and not affiliated with the Obama campaign so far as I know).

  • Jenson on Mary as the “container of the uncontainable”

    In the essay I referred to briefly yesterday (“A Space for God,” found in Mary: Mother of God, Braaten & Jenson, eds.) Robert Jenson asks why it’s important or significant to ask for Mary’s prayers specifically as Theotokos or Mater Dei rather than simply as “Saint Mary.” His intriguing response is that Mary in some…

  • So great a cloud of witnesses

    Chris, the Lutheran Zephyr, is wrestling with the question of asking the saints to pray for us. For me this falls under the category of “all may, none must.” I can see why some are uncomfortable with it, and I wouldn’t presume to judge someone else’s piety. The argument that it’s permissible is, I think,…

  • Superiority complex

    Time blogger Joe Klein has produced a couple of posts purporting to identify the characteristics of “right-wing extremists” and “left-wing extremists.” LWEs hate America, capitalism, mom and apple pie, while RWEs think America and capitalism are never in the wrong, that universal health care equals socialism, etc. Determining to what extent these stereotypes match up…

  • Lent for nerds or The desire to possess as alienation from God

    Part of my Lenten fast is that I’m not going to buy any books. This may sound silly, but I’ve found that I often crave books in the way that other people might crave a new pair of shoes or something for their house. Although I (eventually!) read most of the books I buy, I…

  • Preventive war is “inherently pernicious”

    Andrew Bacevich urges Congress to renounce the Bush Doctrine: The fifth anniversary of President Bush’s West Point speech [where he promulgated the “Bush Doctrine] approaches. Prior to that date, Democratic leaders should offer a binding resolution that makes the following three points: First, the United States categorically renounces preventive war. Second, the United States will…

  • Psalm-blogging

    David Plotz, a self-described “proud Jew, but never a terribly observant one” has been “blogging the Bible” at Slate. He’s just gotten to the Psalms and has some interesting observations. I like his description of David as a pickup artist.