I’m second to no one in my love of the Beastie Boys, but I have to say, some of the rhymes on the recent To the 5 Boroughs, which I checked out from the library the other day, leave a bit to be desired. My longstanding theory has been that there is an inverse relationship…

In the new First Things, Gilbert Meilaender takes a bite out of Crunchy Cons. He’s put off, as I admit I was, by Dreher’s apparent disdain for non-crunchies: A strong sense of impatience runs through the pages of Crunchy Cons. Perhaps it is the impatience of the prophet, and, to the degree that it is,…

Brandon has a post on St. Anselm with lots of good links. N.T. Wright on the Resurrection, via Pastor Frontz. At Alternet, an interview with journalist Michael Pollan, who just publised a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma, on “America’s Eating Disorder.” Interestingly, one of the people engaged in sustainable farming practices that Pollan talks about…

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is the feast day of Archbishop of Canterbury and my favorite medieval philosopher-theologian St. Anselm. He is often referred to as the “founder of scholasticism” and is one of the great doctors of the Church. As Archbishop he was also instrumental in the struggle against…

This article is one of those classic pieces that proclaims the existence of a trend but then offers little more than the sparsest of anecdotal evidence that such a trend is actually occurring. Still, the question is a perennial one. How important to Christian belief is it that Jesus “literally” rose from the dead? The…

I realize I’m starting to sound like a Matthew Yglesias groupie, but this article on why war with Iran is a very, very bad idea is one of the best I’ve read. Even bracketing moral considerations, there just doesn’t seem to be a feasible military option that prevents Iran from getting nukes, rather than perhaps…

Thanks to Pastor Chip Frontz, who graciously loaned me his copy of Rod Dreher’s Crunchy Cons, I can weigh in, if somewhat belatedly, on the whole phenomenon. As I see it, the crunchy con ethos can be understood as an attempt to bring to bear a traditionalist religious (or philosophical) sensibility to bear on the…

Interesting story in the Chicago Tribune about a Catholic parish outside of Chicago that has consciously, and by this account successfully, modeled itself after evangelical megachurches. In fact, it’s a mere three miles away from the (in)famous Willow Creek, and has managed to win parishoners back who were worshiping there. The secret to the 22-year-old…

I may have mentioned previously that we are relocating to the Boston area this summer. By all accounts Boston is a great town, and I’m really looking forward to the move. However, I am disgruntled to discover that Yuengling doesn’t distribute to Massachusetts! For those not in the know, Yuengling (‘ying-ling’), the self-proclaimed oldest brewery…

Jonathan R. Wilson, whose daughter and son-in-law were part of a Christian Peacemaker team in Iraq (not the one that was held hostage), offers a primer on “gospel pacifism.”