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In the World and of the World

A few days ago, the Catholic News Service put out a notice about a survey from Faith in Public Life : The survey showed that young Catholic voters are the most pro-government among voters of any major religious group, even more pro-government than other surveys show the rest of the young population . . . . Continue Reading »

American Hustlers

I’m reading Freedom Just Around the Corner , Walter McDougall’s delightful tour of American history from the colonial period to the age of Jackson. His main claim is that Americans are “hustlers,” both in the sense of shrewd, industrious, creative go-getters and in the sense . . . . Continue Reading »

UK Court Refuses to Impose Assisted Suicide

Debby Purdy, the UK woman struggling with progressive MS, went to court seeking an order assuring her that should she want to die, that her husband could assist her and face no legal consequences. (This case was similar to that of Diane Pretty a few years ago.) The trial court refused. From the . . . . Continue Reading »

Before Eating, Think About It

The journal Psychosomatic Medicine has published a study that shows how intellectual work actually makes you hungry. A group of students was asked to complete a series of mental tests, after which they were presented with an all-you-can-eat buffet. On average, the group ate more after thinking than . . . . Continue Reading »

High Infidelity

Or at least higher infidelity in 2006 than in 1991, says the New York Times . The noticeable shifts came in men and women over 60 and those under 35. One could say many things about the findings, but I was struck by the tone of a few sentences. One, in the print edition, summarized the article: . . . . Continue Reading »

Holocaust Tourism and Just War

David P. Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University. Writing in the magazine Prism , a publication of Evangelicals for Social Action, Prof. Gushee tells us about a “Holocaust travel course” he took this past summer . . . . Continue Reading »

The Return of Ulysses

From book twelve of Homer’s Odyssey : Enough: in misery can words avail? And what so tedious as a twice-told tale? Zbigniew Janowski, reviewing Edith Hall’s new book The Return of Ulysses: A Cultural History of Homer’s Odyssey in the November issue of First Things , shows how . . . . Continue Reading »

Poem of the Day

The Collar by George Herbert I struck the board and cried, "No more; I will abroad! What? shall I ever sigh and pine? My lines and life are free, free as the road, Loose as the wind, as large as store. Shall I be still in suit? Have I no harvest but a thorn To let me blood, and not restore What I . . . . Continue Reading »

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