Afternoon Links — 11.11.10

There is only “case of collective conversion to Judaism in Europe in modern times,” and it occurred in a small southern Italian village in fascist Italy. The prime minister of Canada describes what that country is doing to combat anti-semitism , which “targets the Jewish people by . . . . Continue Reading »

On Longing for Weirdness

Pity the person who looks at the night sky and sees only hot glowing balls of gas. If he starts to speak, you are likely to get a great deal of hot air, but little romantic glow. Knowing the composition of a thing is good, but it is at least as good to know what a thing is to mankind.Stars are more . . . . Continue Reading »

OTB?

1. Sabato and Abramowitz , two of our most astute and fair-and-balanced political scientists, are now certain that our president will serve only one term. Either he will be defeated for reelection (by anyone but Palin) or he will bow to the inevitable and decide soon to not seek reelection. 2. I . . . . Continue Reading »

A dwindling minority: Assyrian Christians

Several years ago I had a student in my classes who was born in Baghdad and claimed to have grown up speaking both Aramaic and Arabic. Her family are Christian and consider themselves Assyrian, one of the most ancient communities in that part of the world. They had come to Canada some years earlier . . . . Continue Reading »

Dogma & Idolatry

In the first to today’s “On the Square” articles, R. R. Reno examines The Idols of Revisionist Theology . They are not the kind of idols Scripture condemns, but precisely the kind of dogmatic security more traditional Christians believe protects us from idolatry. Perhaps . . . . Continue Reading »

Another Grand Explanation of Obama

We live in a time of grand explanations of Obama—Dinesh D’Souza’s post-colonialism, Stanley Kurtz’s socialism, and James Kloppenburg’s pragmatism have all come to the fore recently. Now Sean Wilentz throws his hat in the ring. Our President is (or was) the leader of a . . . . Continue Reading »

End Academic Ostpolitik

Good for Todd Hartch. The professor of history at Eastern Kentucky University decided to go public, writing a letter opposing the decision by the university president to extend benefits to domestic partners akin to those available to married couples. On Public Discourse, he gives an account of his . . . . Continue Reading »