From a CT review (by First Things’ Richard John Neuhaus) of Ratzinger’s book Salt of the Earth: As off-putting as it is to Protestants, for many Catholic theologians the Reformation is not a formative event. In the worlds of Catholic faith and life, they believe, other things of equal or greater importance were happening in…

From an article found at the Houston Catholic Worker: As talk escalated about a U. S. attack on Iraq, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, began stating unequivocally that “The concept of a ‘preventive war’ does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.” His…

Long live Pope Benedict XVI! CNN story here. Read his (quite good) homily from yesterday here. Stay tuned for various media fits that the notorious “enforcer of orthodoxy” is now pope. UPDATE: via Amy Welborn, Andrew Greely (nobody’s idea of a conservative) makes the case for Ratzinger (written before his election).

Kevin Kim had a good post the other day on where he fits in on the political spectrum and his take on the ideologies of left and right. Kevin’s refusal to engage in the Manichean exercise of declaring one team the embodiment of all that is good and pure and denouncing the other as the…

Increasingly annoyed by the general crumminess of our local Blockbuster, the wife and I finally succumbed to the siren song of Netflix. I have to say I’m impressed. Great selection, and it’s so darn easy! This past weekend’s selections brought us, inter alia: Closer This flick manages to be boring, pretentious, offensive, and filthy all…

Interesting interview (via Thunderstruck) with Dan Haseltine of Jars of Clay, who just released an album of re-worked traditonal hymns: “Redemption Songs” includes in-your-face messages about God and Jesus and faith, which is a lot different from the music your audience is accustomed to. Did you want to appeal to a new audience—the worship audience?…

From Bruce Bawer in the NYT: The received wisdom about economic life in the Nordic countries is easily summed up: people here are incomparably affluent, with all their needs met by an efficient welfare state. They believe it themselves. Yet the reality – as this Oslo-dwelling American can attest, and as some recent studies confirm…

I have been suspected of being what is called a Fundamentalist. That is because I never regard any narrative as unhistorical simply on the ground that it includes the miraculous. Some people find the miraculous so hard to believe that they cannot imagine any reason for my acceptance of it other than a prior belief…

A lot of the commentary I’ve been reading on the papal conclave has had a peculiar tick: it seems to treat as newsworthy the fact that the next pope, whoever he is, will not likely deny or change the central teachings of the church. For instance, in today’s Inquirer story 11 of the 14 contenders…

The other day Eric Lee (in his triumphant return to semi-regular blogging) posted an image of the books on his “to read” list (pretty ambitious there, Eric!). Not having access to such fancy-pants technology, I must remain content with just listing those titles that I’m either currently reading or have on deck. Currently reading: George…