A Thinking Reed

  • Universalism

    I have to say this is something that I’ve never really felt the need to have a position on. Taking an definitive stance on either side (i.e. positively affirming that everyone will be saved or that not everyone will be saved) seems underdetermined by the evidence. There are more or less plausible theological arguments one…

  • Ward on creationism and ID

    VI favorite Keith Ward has an article in The Tablet (registration req’d) on intelligent design and creationism (via). He distinguishes between belief that the universe was designed in the sense that all theists accept, namely that its existence and structure is the result of a purposive intelligence, and the narrower sense promoted by Intelligent Design…

  • Against Iran panic 2

    Good column from Fareed Zakaria.

  • Brunner on the Atonement

    Sorry for the dearth of posting around here lately; things have been pretty busy. Among other things, I’m starting a new job this week, so I can’t promise the same level of scintillating content that VI readers are used to. We’ll have to see how things go. However, this weekend I had the chance to…

  • Against Iran panic

    A good analysis and collection of links from Matthew Yglesias. What I find so astounding is that many of the very same people who argued that Iraq posed an imminent threat to our security and that we must invade immediately are now arguing with straight faces that Iran … poses an imminent threat to our…

  • Why I’m rooting for the Democrats this fall

    This article argues that conservative evangelicals are unlikely to desert the GOP because of the hostility of the Democrats toward religious believers: The Democratic party elites cheer when regulators force Catholic charities to fund things the church considers immoral. They vote to curtail the freedom of conscience of pro-life pharmacists. They filibuster judicial appointees who…

  • Can the center hold?

    Slate has an interesting article about the faltering of Conservative Judaism. As neither ultra-conservative like the Orthodox, nor ultra-liberal like the Reform branch, Conservative Judaism has, according to this piece, had a hard time negotiating the tensions between tradition and modernity from a principled position: Take the issue of the ordination of gay rabbis. It’s…

  • Threat assessment

    Andrew Bacevich has a slightly different version of his “Islamic Way of War” article in the newest American Conservative. This merits being highlighted: What are the implications of this new Islamic Way of War? While substantial, they fall well short of being apocalyptic. As Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has…

  • A shameful confession

    I can’t recite the Nicene Creed from memory. At our Lutheran church in Philly we usually recited the Apostle’s Creed and I pretty much have that down (praying the Rosary helps with this too). But the liturgy at the church we’ve been attending in Boston uses the Nicene Creed and I always have to refer…

  • Sunday notes on Monday

    We subscribe to the Sunday Boston Globe since it’s the only day we really have time to read the paper. I used to read the Philadelphia Inquirer every morning when we lived there, but a longer commute here in Boston means that’s not really an option. Anyway, there were several items in yesterday’s paper I…