A Thinking Reed

  • Incarnation and animal redemption

    I recently got my hands on an excellent anthology of essays–Creaturely Theology: God, Humans, and Other Animals, edited by Celia Deane-Drummond and David Clough. It brings together essays on history, theology, philosophy, and ethics to deepen the conversation about the place of animals in Christian theology and practice. So far I’ve only read a few…

  • Health care reform and Catholic social teaching

    Commonweal has an interesting article on Catholic critics of health care reform. The principle of subsidiarity, a key tenet of Catholic social teaching, is often conflated with the kind of small- or anti-government rhetoric you sometimes get from the Right. J. Peter Nixon argues that this is a mistake. His conclusion: Catholic critics of health-care…

  • Friday Metal: going Dutch

    The Dutch band Textures clearly has some heavy Meshuggah influences, but I find their melodic aspects (which are more pronounced in their more recent material) make them a bit more accessible:

  • Did we save the rainforest?

    Not really, as it turns out. Though climate change may be putting it back on the agenda, as the rainforests are pretty important for keeping vast amounts of carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. Incidentally, this is a nice example of how the “free market” often works in practice: the World Bank bribes a relatively…

  • A defense of Ghostbusters

    As if one was needed! Still one of my all-time faves. Link.

  • This generation’s Black Flag?

    It’s nice to see hipster redoubt Pitchfork finally starting to review metal and other heavy music. Here’s a review of Converge’s Axe to Fall, which has been getting heaps of critical praise. I just got it yesterday and have yet to fully digest it, but so far so good.

  • Building a better farm animal?

    Thanks to mizm of the fine blog Left at the Altar for alerting me to this paper by Adam Shriver that makes a case for replacing factory farmed animals with animals genetically engineered to feel less pain. The author cites recent research that seems to show that it’s possible to eliminate, or at least reduce,…

  • A broad orthodoxy

    Pastor Robb (a.k.a. LutherPunk) recently asked how people defined orthodoxy. The question was raised in the context of the recent decisions of the ELCA church-wide assembly, as many traditionalists are now accusing the ELCA of lapsing into heresy. Interestingly, Robb got about as many different definitions of “orthodoxy” as he had commenters responding to his…

  • Factory farming power grab in Ohio?

    Ohioans will vote Tuesday on a measure to amend the state constitution and create a board of political appointees that will set standards for the treatment of farm animals. The problem, as this Mother Jones article spells out, is that any such board would be outside the normal rule-making process, immune from public comment, and…

  • Just because