The Fruit of Wisdom

I want to think about how “male and female,” a duality essential to the goodness of creation , play an essential role also in the first disobedience in the Garden of Eden. But to do that I need to address a prior question: Why does God command the man not to eat the fruit from the tree of . . . . Continue Reading »

The Company Man As Liberal Demagogue

Charlie Cooke has a good article about the madhouse that is MSNBC. Hardball with Chris Matthews used to a be an interesting show. In earlier incarnations of the show, Matthews was a unapologetic but slightly idiosyncratic liberal host who was not entirely a cheerleader for the liberal side. He had . . . . Continue Reading »

Legislating Morality After Prohibition

Last week our nation  commemorated  the eightieth anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, the most commonly cited lesson of which is: You cannot legislate morality. Though this has become part of popular history of the era, it’s exactly the wrong lesson to draw from it. . . . . Continue Reading »

“And It was Very Good”

I started this series of reflections on Genesis by thinking about when Creation was not yet good : when the man is without the woman in Genesis 2, and when heaven is without the earth in Genesis 1 (when we do not hear the expected refrain, “And God was that it was good” on the second day). Now, . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 12.11.13

Seeking a Saint in the Heart of a War Zone Beatriz Terrazas, The Rumpus Science and Non-Science in Educati0n Harvey C. Mansfield, New Atlantis The Inauthenticity of Christmas Carols Sean Morris, Humane Pursuits Is There Justice in Job? Joan Acocella, New Yorker Québec’s Secular Charter . . . . Continue Reading »