Uh oh, if this gets out it could really wreak havoc with political fundraising: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the rate of family violence in this country has dropped by more than half since 1993. I’ve been trying to figure out why.A lot of the credit has to go to the people who…

I freely admit to not knowing that much about the whole “emergent” church phenomenon, but if this article is at all accurate, it really is starting to sound like a re-hash of liberal Protestantism. Or liberal Protestantism with jangly rock guitars, a more casual dress code, and some faux-medieval trappings. The two elements that stand…

Today’s Inquirer ran an interview with an Iraqi Catholic priest who is working to secure a constitution for Iraq that separates religion and state. As part of a religious minority (Christians constitute about 3 percent of Iraqis), editor of a theology journal, member of Baghdad’s literati, social activist, and dogged bridge-builder across faiths, [The Rev.…

The Inquirer ran a story this morning touting signs of John Roberts’ possible “liberalism.” According to the story, one of the pieces of evidence for his alleged liberalism was his advising President Reagan to strongly and unequivocally denounce abortion clinic bombers when working as White House legal counsel. As a legal adviser to President Ronald…

(See here for previous post.) Suppose we grant that Allen’s description of the “experience of perfect love” – a loving apprehension of the givenness of beings which don’t exist for our sake or to be of use to us, but which have their own integrity and goodness – correspondes to a real, if fleeting, part…

Nice article on Flannery O’Connor in the Washington Post. I’ve had an affection for O’Connor since I took a class on her in college. I had never read her before then and was just trying to fill up my course schedule. The Library of America edition of her works contains everything she wrote, I think.…

This article from the Christian Century gives the lay of the land on the homosexuality issue in the ELCA as we go into the churchwide assembly this month. Despite what the article says, I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up with essentially the status quo. A “local option” has been vigorously opposed by some…

Has any concept from physics been more abused and imported into more inappropriate settings since, well, Einstein’s idea of relativity? Granted that picking on Deepak Chopra seems a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but still… When Heisenberg first presented it to Einstein, he made the famous remark “I don’t believe God would play…

Well, within limits… It is guaranteed to raise a cheer among those who enjoy a tipple: moderate drinkers are better thinkers than teetotallers or those who overindulge. Research by the Australian National University in Canberra suggests drinking in moderation boost your brainpower. But none at all, or too much, can make you a dullard. A…

Diogenes Allen is professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary and the author of numerous books on theology, spirituality, and the philosophy of religion. His book The Path of Perfect Love (second ed., 1992) is the first thing I’ve picked up of his, but so far I think he offers a very intriguing approach to the…