A Thinking Reed

  • Orthodoxy/Orthopraxis

    Graham at Leaving Muenster has a characteristically challenging post on where Christianity falls short if it’s taken to be simply a set of beliefs and not a way of life: I remember hearing Brian Mclaren talk a few years ago about an interview he’d given at a conference. I believe it was with Dallas Willard…

  • The politics of biotech

    William Saletan has a good article on how biotech issues are threatening to upset existing political categories. He gives an admirably evenhanded account of the stakes as each side sees them, but then points out that these debates are making for strange bedfellows: On the left, the instinct is to treat ESC research like health…

  • The more things change… or Lessons from the early church

    I’ve been reading Henry Chadwick’s history of the early church (thanks, Josh!) and been struck by the relevance of that history for some of the issues facing the church today. Consider, for example, the so-called new atheists (Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al.) who specialize in arguing against a certain construal of Christianity as though it…

  • Feingold’s out

    Looks like Russ Feingold has ruled out an 08 presidential run to focus on influencing the Democratic agenda in the Senate. This is too bad in my view, not because I expected him to actually get the nomination (much less win the general election), but that I think it would be useful to have an…

  • Black helicopter watch

    I read the NT Wright lecture I linked to yesterday and I tend to agree with Jonathan that Wright is too optimistic about a global army (or “police force” as he calls it) as a viable alternative to our present situation. Wright says: First, we must work from every angle either to enable the United…

  • Linkery

    A smattering of links for a Friday afternoon. Elliot at Claw of the Conciliator writes on a recent meeting with everyone’s favorite sectarian tribalist theologian, giving rise to the perennial question: Kooky cults – good or bad? Faith and Theology: Ten Propositions on Karl Barth. Russell Arben Fox offers some theses on the midterm elections.…

  • Pithy goodness

    Have you ever found a good blog because you were impressed with something its proprietor said in a comment thread elsewhere and clicked through? Well, this morning I found Pith and Substance, whose owner goes by the name “PithLord” (one of the better handles in the blogosphere it has to be said). He appears to…

  • Post election day thoughts

    In light of the November massacre of 2006, here’s what I wrote back in August about rooting for the Dems: For me, a vote for Democrats this fall (and possibly in 2008) would be, more than anything else, a vote for a check on the policies of the Bush Administration. The last six years have…

  • Praying with St. Francis

    The venerable Massachusetts Bible Society bookstore in downtown Boston is closing its doors next month, and, consequently, they’re selling off their stock at discounted rates. Despite what the name might seem to imply, the MBS is actually something of a “progressive” Christian outfit. Anyway, I was in there yesterday and picked up a copy of…

  • Arizonans against animal cruelty

    Obviously I don’t live in Arizona, but this strikes me as quite a worthwhile measure. UPDATE: Looks like this won handily. Go, Arizona!