First Links — 11.20.12

To Bring Him Back with a Twitch Upon the Thread Leah Libresco, Unequally Yoked What Is Philip Pullman Doing to Fairy Tales? Craig Bernthal, The University Bookman A Very Tattler Thanksgiving Rachel Shukert, Tablet Ireland, Abortion, and a Tragic Case John Waters,  Il Sussidiario Conservatism . . . . Continue Reading »

On the Square Today

William Doino Jr. on the temptation of secular conservatism : This two-front assault on traditional conservatism has taken a toll. Intimidated by loose (and often ludicrous) charges of “theocracy,” many committed religious believers have hesitated to cite the Bible in support of anything . . . . Continue Reading »

Progress as Decline

A very insightful column this weeekend from Ross Douthat : Consider the secular vote, which has been growing swiftly and tilts heavily toward Democrats. The liberal image of a non-churchgoing American is probably the “spiritual but not religious” seeker, or the bright young atheist . . . . Continue Reading »

What’s Old Is New

From time-to-time, I teach a course in historical linguistics, which is among my favorite subjects. One of the topics we spend a fair amount of time discussing is what’s called “ Sound Shift ,” which describes how similar vowel and consonant sounds move around over long stretches of . . . . Continue Reading »

First Links — 11.19.12

Herod’s Architectural Ambitions Steve Moyer, Humanities About That Ashen Madonna Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times The Trouble with Drafting the Ultra-Orthodox Eeta Prince-Gibson, Moment E-Reading Isn’t Reading Andrew Piper, Slate Universality, Noble Accessibility, and Pop Culture . . . . Continue Reading »