A Thinking Reed

  • The deserving poor

    Author Kritzer, a Jewish convert to Christianity by the sound of it, writes on contrasting Jewish and Christian attitudes toward giving to the poor.

  • Voting with your fork

    Informative article in the Economist on various forms of “food activism” (buy organic, buy local, buy fair trade, etc.) and some of the complicated realities behind the slogans: All food choices involve trade-offs. Even if organic farming does consume a little less energy and produce a little less pollution, that must be offset against lower…

  • Backpedaling

    I’m not usually a fan of this style of music (jangly-indie-folksy), but I bought my wife the Sufjan Stevens Christmas box set and I have to say it’s grown on me quite a bit (go here to stream it). Disc 2 is my current favorite.

  • Liberation theology for animals

    Andrew Linzey has a nice piece in the London Times. Nothing really new if you’ve read any of his books, but a good concise case for an “animal inclusive” Christianity. (via Thinking Anglicans) I’m intrigued by the idea that the scope of Christ’s redemptive life and death extends to all creation and not just human…

  • NT Wright and the nature of apologetics

    The Christian Century reviews two recent books by that one-man publishing house N.T. Wright. Our parish curate warmly recommended Simply Christian, the Mere Christianity of the 21st century if reports are to be believed. Of course, Wright and Lewis are very different thinkers speaking to very different audiences. The reviewer, Samuel Wells, writes: I’m generally…

  • The man comes around

    Check out Chris‘s series on the theology of Johnny Cash in three parts (1,2,3). Proving that you can’t escape your Lutheran roots he uses a nice law/gospel dialectic. Someday I’ll write my series on the theology of Jerry Reed. Hound dogs and fishing will loom large in the system.

  • Yet another political quiz thingie

    Your Political Profile: Overall: 45% Conservative, 55% Liberal Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Ethics: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal How Liberal Or Conservative Are You? (via Haligweorc) It’s funny how end up as kind of a…

  • New Over the Rhine Christmas album

    Here’s an article from The New York Press on the great group Over the Rhine, who apparently have a new Christmas record coming out, with a pretty awesome cover. (via Thunderstruck) Their previous Christmas album is called The Darkest Night of the Year. For what it’s worth, OTR are a great live act if you…

  • Mouw on evangelicalism

    Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, is interviewed in the LA Times on what it means to be an evangelical. Nothing really new there, but he does highlight a kind of “broad tent” evangelicalism that seems to be gaining more notice. I read Mouw’s Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport and He Shines in…

  • The new new fusionism?

    There’s been a fair bit of blogospheric discussion of this piece by Brink Lindsey in the New Republic calling for a liberal-libertarian alliance (the link I provided is to the publicly accessible version at the Cato Institute website). The problem with proposals like these, it seems to me, is that they inevitably overestimate the number…