Stone Cold Fusionism

Over at the Confabulum, James has raised the following worry about what people are caling the "New Fusionism": "But both Benedictinism and libertarianism are fairly anti-political worldviews. Any fusion between them would deepen and widen the disconnect between Americans, their . . . . Continue Reading »

The Pope on Exegesis and Theology

For the 1988 Erasmus Lecture, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger gave a speech entitled “Biblical Interpretation in Crisis,” in which he argued that “the exegete must realize that he does not stand in some neutral area, above or outside history and the Church.” Addressing the synod . . . . Continue Reading »

Christ Our Joy

Speaking of our beloved former colleague, Ryan recently wrote a review of Christ Our Joy: The Theological Vision of Pope Benedict XVI in Christianity Today. Here are a few paragraphs to whet your appetite: Nietzsche’s attack on Christianity’s “slave morality” paved the way . . . . Continue Reading »

Truth, Good, God, and Fullness

Cherry-picking my way through Nicola’s re-rejoinder , here’s what pops out: 1. Nicola seems to agree with me that we can’t be certain about our truths because certainty is the wrong standard of assessment for truths. But she says: I don’t know how truth can function as a . . . . Continue Reading »

Public Discourse

The excellent team of scholars working under the auspices of The Witherspoon Institute has just launched an online publication called Public Discourse: Ethics, Law and the Common Good . Public Discourse is an interesting hybrid of the blog and journal formats. According to the introductory letter . . . . Continue Reading »

Larry Flynt Makes "Palin" Porn Movie

Nothing, nothing is too low to do to Sarah Palin. Larry Flynt has apparently made a porn movie with a Sarah Palin look alike. Can you imagine the justified STINK that would be raised if this were done with a Barack Obama look alike? The foulness is beyond belief.And a Daily News columnist (the . . . . Continue Reading »

Our Inscrutable Economy

Here our friend Pat Deneen draws from the wisdom of the anti-Federalists that we have good reason to fear an excessive consolidation of economic power in the federal government, especially during times of economic crisis. One could reasonably argue that governmentally regulated and subsidized . . . . Continue Reading »

Chimpanzee Weirdness

Some scientists think we should expand the definition of ‘person’ to include chimps: "As a population of West African chimpanzees in the Ivory Coast that just two decades ago numbered 10,000 and accounted for half of the world’s population dwindles to just a few thousand, . . . . Continue Reading »