A Thinking Reed

  • On the death of a cat

    Two poems: On the Death of a Cat By Christina Rossetti Who shall tell the lady’s grief When her Cat was past relief? Who shall number the hot tears Shed o’er her, belov’d for years? Who shall say the dark dismay Which her dying caused that day? Come, ye Muses, one and all, Come obedient…

  • Eluveitie, “A Rose for Epona”

    Looking forward to the new album. Bring on the hurdy-gurdy! (Oh yeah, it’s also a concept album about a Celtic tribe that lived in ancient Gaul, which is kind of awesome.)

  • Is belief in a historical Adam a “gospel issue”?

    I came across this post by James McGrath–“Ten Really Bad Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam“–which was a response to a post by Reformed blogger Kevin DeYoung arguing for the necessity of belief in a historical Adam. One reason DeYoung offers that I’ve seen emphasized elsewhere is that without belief in a historical Adam…

  • God Forbid, “Walk Alone”

  • Biblical inerrancy, the goodness of God, and our capacity for truth

    I came across this letter of C.S. Lewis’s on the blog Undeception: Dear Mr. Beversluis, Yes. On my view one must apply something of the same sort of explanation to, say, the atrocities (and treacheries) of Joshua. I see the grave danger we run by doing so; but the dangers of believing in a God…

  • The indispensability of vegetarianism

    This article at Grist observes, I think accurately, that, at least among eco-conscious foodies, “conscientious carnivorism” is in, and vegetarianism is out: At some point over the past few years, vegetarianism went wholly out of style. Now sustainable meat is all the rage. “Rock star” butchers proffer grass-fed beef, artisanal sausage, and heritage-breed chickens whose…

  • Ghost Brigade, “Grain”

    Another one from Ghost Brigade. This album has really grown on me.

  • Competing goods, sympathy, and democracy

    The Obama administration’s decision, as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, to require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraception coverage in employee health plans has, not surprisingly, caused quite a stir. Personally, I’ve had a hard time forming a strong opinion on the issue, despite the fact that both conservatives and liberals…

  • In the midst of a great revolution

    One of the interesting things about H.R. Niebuhr is that he is often trying to walk the middle ground between a liberal or “natural” theology based on reason or experience and a Barthian “revelational positivism” that limits our knowledge of God to what is revealed. For Niebuhr, philosophical reasoning, religious experience, psychology, and history all…

  • H.R. Niebuhr on revelation, ethics, and nature

    For Niebuhr, revelation is not a revelation of divinely inspired propositions–as some theories of biblical inerrancy would have it. Instead, it is a fundamentally personal encounter–a revelation of God’s self. In this encounter, we don’t apprehend an object; it is more accurate to say that we are apprehended by–in judgment and love–the ultimate Subject. But…