Is the Islamic injunction against visual depiction of the sacred as thoroughgoing a taboo as many non-Muslims assume? Jamal J. Elias, plugging his new book Aisha’s Cushion at the Harvard University Press blog, says no : . . . there is a common understanding that the only broadly acceptable . . . . Continue Reading »
“Synagogues are contracting,” says Barak Richman professor of law and business administration at Duke University, “and American Judaism remains ossified in organizational structures that may have made sense in the 1950s but currently are unable to address contemporary . . . . Continue Reading »
Edward Skidelsky summarizes Philippa Foot’s argument against the common opposition between what is and what ought to be in an interview with the Browser : MacIntyre thinks that the notion of virtue has to be detached from Aristotle’s original ‘metaphysical biology’ as he . . . . Continue Reading »
From the “stories you’re not likely to see widely covered but probably should know about” department: the oldest and largest abortion clinic in New York City has closed after more than two decades of dedicated prayer, protest, and counseling outside its walls. And it’s . . . . Continue Reading »
George Weigel on America and the world : The foreign policy debate in the United States has often been peculiar, in that it’s not infrequently about the United States rather than the world. Throughout history, other great powers have thought about world politics in terms of national interest. . . . . Continue Reading »
Sound like fun? Maybe they’ll talk about “alterity” also! KC Johnson at Minding the Campus (H/T Instapundit) takes a look at the program for the 2013 American Historical Association conference, especially at the priceless paper titles . Did you know that 1945-1965 “saw the . . . . Continue Reading »
Gertrude Himmelfarb applies the insights and categories of the Victorian great William James to today’s religious scene in an interesting weekend piece for the Wall Street Journal . As she reports, in one widely reprinted 1896 lecture, James intended to respond to Harvard . . . . Continue Reading »
Dr. Malherbe of Natal University said to Field Marshal Smuts as he left a political meeting, “Why were those two hecklers at the back so bitterly hostile?” Smuts replied, “I understand the feelings of one of them very well indeed. He and I were brought up together in the same . . . . Continue Reading »
Who Closed the American Mind? Patrick J. Deneen, The American Conservative Hospitality and the Great Commission David Mathis, Desiring God Espresso & Everyday Liturgies Michael W. Hannon, Fare Forward The Other Greek Crisis Steve Coll, New Yorker Hyping Stem Cells Like It’s 2004 . . . . Continue Reading »
The Wall Street Journal reports that the cinematic return of the biblical epic is at hand . Russell Crowe will star in Noah , with a 148-foot ark, copious animals, and a $125 million budget. Steven Spielberg is in talks to direct Gods and Kings about Moses, Warner Bros. secured a script about . . . . Continue Reading »
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