The Biology Department of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota publicizes volunteer opportunities on their webpage.Good idea. We should all be encouraged to serve the common good as best we can. Continue Reading »
The famous phrase “wall of separation of church and state” today enjoys the status of legal precedent, but here’s a curious fact. The phrase comes from the letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Connecticut Baptists who feared that state politicians would suppress them. When the Baptists received the letter, however, they didn’t celebrate and publicize the statement. They didn’t even record it in the minutes of their proceedings. “They pretend it never existed.” Continue Reading »
The recent decision by the Minnesota State High School League on transgender participation in sports reveals the incoherence and the rhetorical strategies underlying discussions of gender identity.
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The Optimistic Science of Leibniz
Marc E. Bobro, The New Atlantis
The Coming Democratization of Contemporary Art
Marion Meneker, The Atlantic
Verso L’Alto! Eve Tushnet and Christian Friendship
Jose Mena, Fare Forward
Despite the dramatic drop in the price of oil—over 40 percent in just a few months—Saudi Arabia announced at the recent OPEC meeting that it plans to maintain current production levels. This guarantees that there will be no short-run price turnaround, and possibly continued price declines. After all, the price decrease puts the hurt on Saudi Arabia as well as others. While the nation used its oil profits to build a huge sovereign wealth fund, the government also spends a lot of money; and the International Monetary Fund recently suggested that the country may soon face government expenditures greater than revenue. So why this course of action? Continue Reading »
Who Should Own the Internet?
Julian Asange, The New York Times
Censors at Work: How States Shape Literature by Robert Darnton, a review: ‘an antidote’
Maureen Freely, The Telegraph
2014: The Year in Photos, January - April
The Atlantic
The Forecast
Wendy Xu, Poetry Magazine
The Promise and Prospects of Retrieval: Recent Developments in Roman Catholic Thought That Shape Contemporary Dogmatic Theology
Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Zondervan Academic
Why Write Christmas Carols in the Zombie-Era?
Joseph Bottum, Patheos
Saint Rose of Lima
Judith Ortiz Cofer, Poetry Magazine
The debate over “rape culture” distracts us from the existence of a “rape system” at many of our large college campuses. Continue Reading »
A review of Faithful Passages: American Catholicism in Literary Culture, 1844–1931? Continue Reading »
The Promise and Prospects of Retrieval: Recent Developments in Roman Catholic Thought That Shape Contemporary Dogmatic Theology
Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Zondervan Academic
Mecca: From Shrine to Shopping Mall
Justin Marozzi, The Spectator
Smile, You’re Speaking Emoji
Adam Sternbergh, New York Magazine
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