Philosopher Peter Singer has just published a new book, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter (Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot of talk about food lately? Crunchy Cons, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an entire issue of Sojourners dedicated to the topic; people seem to have food on…

This seems like good news: Sudan’s government said yesterday that its peace accord with Darfur’s main insurgent group allowed it to welcome U.N. peacekeepers to the troubled region, as mediators worked to persuade the rest of the fractured rebel movement to join the process. The peace agreement, reached Friday in Abuja with one branch of…

Lucasfilms is releasing the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy on DVD this fall. Yes, I am a sucker and will buy them. I actually don’t mind most of the changes that were made for the special edition versions that came out in the late 90s. Though, I could do without the CGI musical number in…

This is neat – the BBC has made one of C.S. Lewis’s wartime radio addresses available online. This is apparently the only surviving one; the broadcasts were ultimately published as Mere Christianity. They also have a clip of him introducing The Great Divorce. Via Christianity Today.

Below I talked a bit about a certain leftward drift in my political outlook over the last few years. Another impetus for my move away from certain mainstream conservative positions, I think, has to do with trying to work out a consistent ethic of life. For about as long as I’ve given these things any…

A friend who’s a student at the Kennedy School of Government sends along a link to their brand new Africa Policy Journal. It aims to discuss Africa-related issues and policy from the perspective of Africans. You can view the inagural issue here.

The Christian Century reports on a recent speech by Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois, a staunch conservative Republican, warning against overconfidence in our power to remake the world: “It is a truism that power breeds arrogance. A far greater danger, however, stems from the self-delusion that is the more certain companion. For individuals and countries…

Amnesty International has released a report stating that torture and inhumane treatment are “widespread” under U.S. custody. This goes against the “a few bad apples” line that Washington has pushed. See also this reflection from theologian George Hunsinger.

Lots of well-intentioned folks are urging us to “do something” about the crisis in Darfur. And, heaven knows, there’s a lot of bad stuff going down. Just recently it was reported that the UN had to cut its rations to refugees there due to inadequate funding. That seems like something that could, and should, be…

Swedish Lutheran theologian Anders Nygren is best known for his book Agape and Eros, which argued for agape as the essence of divine love in Christianity. But his little book The Essence of Christianity: Two Essays is worth reading too. For my purposes I want to focus on the second essay, “The Atonement as a…