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Six months
My daughter turns six months today! I don’t know that I have any particularly original observations on parenthood at this point. All the cliches seem to be more or less true–it upends your life in dramatic ways, you don’t get much sleep, and yet–you love this little person with more intensity than you could’ve possibly…
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The elitism quiz
See Marvin, Camassia, and/or Russell for explanation. 1. Can you talk about “Mad Men?” All but the fourth season; I don’t have cable so I have to wait for the DVD. 2. Can you talk about the “The Sopranos?” No. 3. Do you know who replaced Bob Barker on “The Price Is Right?” Drew Carey.…
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I want to be a Pentecostal too
Marvin offers a review of Allan Anderson’s book on global pentecostalism that really makes me want to read it. The essence of charismatic Christianity, according to Anderson (according to Marvin) isn’t speaking in tongues or some of the other trappings usually associated with pentecostalism, but rather “A shared conviction that the Holy Spirit can and…
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Killer electronics
Derek flagged this article on the human cost of our insatiable demand for new electronic gadgets and asks what the proper Christian response would be. My suggestion: most Americans wouldn’t pay $15k for an iPad (the amount the author estimates an iPad would cost if manufactured in the U.S.)–would they pay somewhat more than they…
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The latest from Wikileaks
From the Guardian, which received the latest batch of documents: The new logs detail how: • US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse, torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct appears to be systematic and normally unpunished. • A US helicopter gunship involved in a notorious Baghdad…
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Brian McLaren on the atonement
I like this way of putting it: When people ask me about atonement these days, here’s what I often ask in reply: where do you primarily locate God on Good Friday? Is God primarily located with the Romans who are crucifying Jesus, or is God primarily located in the man on the cross, suffering at…
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Faith and factuality revisited
When I was reading Marcus Borg’s Heart of Christianity, I expressed some dissatisfaction with his treatment of the Bible. I felt like he wasn’t clear enough about the relationship between the meaning of the text and the question of its historical truth. Recently I picked up Borg’s newer book on Jesus, and I’m happier with…
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On becoming politically predictable
I haven’t done much political blogging lately, which in part has to do with the fact that (1) my core interests generally lie elsewhere and (2) I think you, dear reader, can probably get better-quality political blogging elsewhere. Another reason, though, has to do with the fact that, over the last few years, my political…
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Ruse on The Moral Landscape
Philosopher Michael Ruse takes a sledgehammer to Sam Harris’s new book on morality: I don’t know what Harris studied in his philosophy courses as an undergrad at Stanford, but they don’t seem to have penetrated very deeply. He denounces philosophers before him (including myself, I should admit) without really addressing the challenge their arguments pose…
