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Friday metal mayhem
Read a review of the new Trivium album, Crusade in the Metro this morning. You can listen to it streaming on AOL here (don’t know how long that link will be good for). Sounds fantastic, especially if, like me, you’re a big fan of 80s thrash metal (early Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, etc.). And don’t tell…
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Story of my life
I’m going to flagrantly rip off Marvin and write my own “political autobiography” post, for my own benefit as much as anyone else’s. As Marvin points out in recounting a conversation with his right-of-center friend, location, if not everything, is something. I spent the late 90s and early 00s in two of the most left-wing…
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Revolutionary pamphleteers as proto-bloggers
I started reading Bernard Bailyn’s fascinating book The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and was struck by his description of pamphleteering as the primary means by which revolutionary ideas were spread: It was in this form — as pamphlets — that much of the most important and characteristic writing of the American Revolution appeared.…
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The theologian as amateur economist
Usually any book review symposium will have a mix of negative and positive reviews, but the one on Kathryn Tanner’s Economy of Grace in the most recent Journal of Lutheran Ethics – not exactly a right-wing rag – has four pretty scathing reviews. In fairness, I haven’t read Prof. Tanner’s book, but if these reviews…
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Blood Mountain
Naturally one is a bit suspicious of any metal album that receives accolades from indie/hipster types, but I have to say that Mastodon’s new album Blood Mountain is pretty darn incredible. The critical hype about them being the second coming of Metallica (circa 1986) may be a bit overstated, but their dizzying mix of thrash,…
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Against Iran (and North Korea) panic
CPA at Three Hierarchies applies the wisdom of Mao (really!) to our current situation. Related: Jim Henley argues that Pakistan is a plausible test case of an Islamist-influenced dictatorship with nukes which hasn’t passed them off to terrorists, giving us some reason to think that Iran wouldn’t either.
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McPherson’s Grace at this Time
Last week I read C.W. McPherson’s short book Grace at this Time, which is an explanation and commendation of the Daily Office as a form of daily prayer for Christians. The practice of the daily office – a structured form of daily prayer consisting of a prescribed order of psalms and readings with responses and…
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A few links with notes
In comments to this post, *Christopher commended the work of Catholic theologian James Alison. A quick Google search reveals that many of his writings are available online here. I’m somewhat wary of people who rely too much on Rene Girard’s work, only because they often give off a vibe of “Girard has figured out everything!”,…
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Ward on Original Sin and Atonement
Previously we saw Keith Ward offer an account of original sin that he thinks consistent with a broad evolutionary picture. As a result of a primal choice for evil and turning away from God, the human race finds itself estranged from God and unable to repair the breach. Ward distinguishes between what he calls “forensic”…
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The road to hell, etc.
With Iraq as Exhibit A, U of Chicago law prof Eric Posner (son of Richard, I think) argues for a presumption against “humanitarian” war in the Washington Post. Many well-meaning people – often, but not exclusively liberals – who otherwise tend to be “anti-war” find themselves with an itchy trigger finger when it comes to…
