Earlier this week I mentioned a project that performed quantitative analysis on Hamlet and wondered whether it would prove to be a useful approach to literary analysis. Last night I stumbled across an example that shows how, when used creatively, such techniques can expand our knowledge and . . . . Continue Reading »
I can think of few things that would undermine universal human equality than for society to think that killing despairing people with serious illnesses or disabilities could be a splendid means of incresasing the supply of transplant organs. I warned about this likelihood in my very first . . . . Continue Reading »
When I had the honor of interviewing the founder of hospice, Dame Cecily Saunders, for my book Culture of Death, at the end of our conversation, I asked the usual catchall question of whether there was anything else she wanted to say. She thought a moment and told me that her one regret . . . . Continue Reading »
A woman’s tribute to Kevorkian—a tattoo of one of his paintings. He was a committed nihilist who said that the worst moment of his life was when he was born. I don’t know the woman, but tattooing that painting on your back for the rest of your life...well that’s a . . . . Continue Reading »
Alan Wisdom brings back an old word for an even older concept : In ancient times, there was an option for a man who desired a regular sex partner but did not wish to marry her. He could take a low-status woman as a concubine. He could enjoy her company as long as it pleased him, and he could . . . . Continue Reading »
Last week I recommended a list of my favorite works of imaginative literature to read over the summer. This week, I offer a list of twenty-five works of “imaginative non-fiction.” Because its the summer, I’ve included books that are relatively short and accessible. But because . . . . Continue Reading »
The movement advancing same-sex marriage has of late been preoccupied with preeminence more than debate, better thriving in the echo chambers of Ivy League classrooms and judges’ chambers than the dialectic of town halls. But a culture of self-congratulation is hardly the context for honing . . . . Continue Reading »
Philip Greenspun thinks it might be a good idea to send all of America’s economists away for a few years : In reading opinions regarding the U.S. and state economies from professional economists and in talking to these folks face-to-face I’ve never heard any of them say anything clear . . . . Continue Reading »
Evangelicals have been blessed with the recent increase of studies on the early church fathers. For example, Michael Haykin’s Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church and Bryan Litfin’s Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction . . . . Continue Reading »
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