A Thinking Reed

  • “Justice is giving humans their due as people in the image of God”

    Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, has a book out called Generous Justice, making the case that concern for the poor is a non-negotiable implication of the gospel and a matter of justice, not just charity. Christianity Today interviews him here. “It’s biblical,” Pastor Keller says, “that we owe the…

  • On unfinished books

    Camassia writes here about books she started but didn’t finish. I’m somewhat compulsive about finishing books–I actually feel guilty if I don’t. But I’ve come to the conclusion that this works to my detriment since you have to assume that there are way more good books in the world than I’ll ever get around to…

  • Misconceptions about foreign aid

    At the League of Ordinary Gentlemen, Jason Kuznicki points out some persistent public misconceptions about the amount the U.S. spends on foreign aid: Years ago, I read that Americans on average thought we spent something like a quarter of our budget on foreign aid. It was a ridiculous overestimate, both then and now, and I…

  • Friday Metal: Eluveitie, “Thousandfold”

    Some more of that Celtic/pagan/folk metal that the European kids seem to dig. These guys are Swiss, I think. I recently got the album and it’s been growning on me quite a bit:

  • From inclusivism to (soft) pluralism?

    In his contribution to the collection Abraham’s Children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conversation, Keith Ward offers a sketch of three different kinds of Christian religious pluralism: Inclusive pluralism: The Wisdom of God that is embodied in Jesus is also available or present elsewhere. All humans participate in and can access this Wisdom, at least…

  • Okay, this is pretty cool

  • For Gen-Xers only

    I’ve really been enjoying the AV Club’s series “Whatever Happened to Alternative Nation?” It looks at the rise (and fall) of 90s alternative rock. The most recent installment on Kurt Cobain’s suicide and its aftermath is particularly good. (And I agree that Soundgarden is underrated!)

  • Follow-up on Suchocki and pluralism

    Kevin Kim (a.k.a. the Big Hominid) has some thoughts and questions riffing on my post about Marjorie Suchocki’s Divinity and Diverstiy. I think Kevin pinpoints a certain ambiguity in Suchocki’s position, one that I wrestled with. It seems to me that Suchocki could either be characterized as a pluralist or as a modified inclusivist. This…

  • What kind of populism?

    The premise of this Newsweek article is that Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) is poised to become the leader of a bloc of conservative Senate Democrats–who, not coincidentally, are up for reelection in 2012–in opposing aspects of President Obama’s “progressive agenda.” Webb, we’re told, is a “Jacksonian populist” who thinks that Democrats don’t pay enough attention…

  • Toward a Christian affirmation of religious pluralism

    Over the holiday weekend I read Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki’s Divinity and Diversity: A Christian Affirmation of Religious Pluralism. Though it only clocks in at about 120 pages, it’s one of the better books I’ve read on the subject. Suchocki, professor emerita of the Claremont School of Theology and a noted process and feminist theologian, takes…