Good for President Obama for seeking congressional authorization for a strike on Syria. Among other things, it will give the administration more time to come up with a coherent strategy that has a plausible chance of advancing American interests. The current strategy of focusing outrage on Syrian . . . . Continue Reading »
I need to limit the category pretty strictly to decide. But its not simply a pragmatic limitation. Earlier Songbook posts have laid the groundwork for my main assumption, that the basic folk-rock recipe was to inject the purity and longing of the gentler, Baez-esque , side of the folk sound . . . . Continue Reading »
“Families exist to die,” says Peter J. Leithart, cheerfully pondering the departure of his children in today’s On the Square . As every nineteenth-century Russian novelist knew, the surface cracks and the old chasms reappear. Fathers become traditionalists who think that their way . . . . Continue Reading »
Donald Drakeman modestly describes himself as “a businessman with a doctorate in religion.” In fact, he is on the faculty at Cambridge and has written an important book on originalism and the Establishment Clause. In a recent essay, he discusses the continuing importance of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Adam Gopnik, in the New Yorker, has written a column entitled ” Why Study English? ” But, in today’s On the Square , Micah Mattix points out that the question he is really concerned with is “why read literature?” Studying English is a very different beast: One of the . . . . Continue Reading »
How to Interpret Biblical Genitives Justin Taylor, Between Two Worlds Mapping the Global Muslim Population Pew Research Religion & Public Life Project How Did You Become a Writer? Brian Doyle, American Scholar A Stark but Realistic Picture of the Middle East Edward Pentin & Samir . . . . Continue Reading »
I recently talked with Matt Woodley of Preaching Today about how pastors might approach the topic of homosexuality in sermons and other parish teaching opportunities. (The interview is available for free, but you might have to register at the site to access it in its entirety.) For those who have . . . . Continue Reading »
A little while back, former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams made headlines for his comments on the persecution (or lack thereof) of Christians in the West. Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable, he said. I am always very uneasy when people sometimes in . . . . Continue Reading »
What jumps out from this New York Times article is an incredibly stupid comment by David Leege, but the most important part has to do with how the Republican establishment is trying to sell itself. The self-serving malice of an academic is less damaging than the self-serving delusions of the . . . . Continue Reading »
I find myself more and more disturbed by the moral implications of President’s Obama’s approach to Syria. He speaks of “sending a message” and firing a “shot across the bow.” This is a dangerous way of thinking about war. There are times when military force can . . . . Continue Reading »