Joe Carter

A radical shift in the Zeitgeist was occurring: authority began to be questioned; a skeptical relativism spread among the intelligentsia; claims about God and moral absolutes were rejected; human belief was perceived to be nothing more than a social-construction; the Christian worldview continued to crumble, its primacy supplanted by secularism… . Continue Reading »

“Rethink Love. Rethink Marriage. Rethink Family Reality.” That’s the fitting tagline for TLC’s new reality show about a polygamous family. Let the normalization begin. . . . . Continue Reading »

Over on the Spengler blog , David Goldman wonders why General Petraeus is weighing in on a First Amendment issue: Burning the Koran (or any book) is a bad thing, and the Rev. Terry Jones of something called the Dove World Outreach Center will violate basic standards of decency when he sets fire to . . . . Continue Reading »

At Slate, Shmuel Rosner wonders whether Jewish America haslost its chance to foster home-grown rabbinical sages : The Jewish world of the 21st century has very few, if any, rabbis and scholars universally accepted as “great” or “sagely” who are admired even by those outside . . . . Continue Reading »

Although it is only September, I think it is safe to say that the “Burn a Koran” day is the pseudo-event of the year. Despite being completely insignificant, the fifty member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida has managed—thanks to the media—to get worldwide . . . . Continue Reading »

Although the Slow Movement —a cultural shift toward slowing down life’s pace—began in the late 1980s, it has recently undergone a surge in popularity. Today there are numerous offshoots, including slow money , slow parenting , and slow journalism . While I’m not quite ready to . . . . Continue Reading »

The inimitable Fred Sanders examines the opening lines of the four Gospels : Say you’re an apostle or one of their disciples, and your job is to write a gospel. What are the rules for how you start a gospel? Well, there are only four real gospels, let’s check them out real quick. Mark . . . . Continue Reading »

After raiding a Maryland abortion clinic, government officials discover jars of dead fetuses : Maryland health officials have ordered two doctors to stop performing abortions after a woman was critically injured during a procedure last month. The state Board of Physicians ordered Dr. Steven Brigham . . . . Continue Reading »

[Note: Since its a holiday—and because I can’t find much else to write about—I thought I’d post another thought experiment.] In his collection of thought experiments, The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten , philosopher Julian Baggini includes the following excerpt from Douglas Adam’s sci-fi . . . . Continue Reading »

1. The Bookshelf as Memory Theater What concerns me about the literary apocalypse that everybody now expects—the at least partial elimination of paper books in favor of digital alternatives—is not chiefly the books themselves, but the bookshelf. My fear is for the eclectic, personal . . . . Continue Reading »