Meandering through a social media timeline, I stumbled upon one of those “listicles” that comprise so much of our empty internet clicking. This one was about how the adorableness of children should inspire everyone to be a parent, and the images were pretty cute, but my favorite bit was textual … Continue Reading »
Last week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action. This case involves a challenge to Michigan’s Proposal 2, a 2006 ballot measure designed to put an end to affirmative action preferences in programs and policies of public institutions in the state… . Continue Reading »
I believe in hell. Not only the hell within, for there are those “private devils that hang like vampires on the soul,” to use the language of Thomas Merton”and not only the metaphorical hell around evident in war, violence, and destructive evil on a global scale”but also the hell to come… . Continue Reading »
Some of you know the story of Jean Vanier, the founder of the L’Arche community. Vanier was born in Canada in 1928. His father was Canada’s governor general. Vanier was a sailor in his youth, at the close of World War II. He was a philosopher, a theologian, and a poet… . Continue Reading »
A new battle is brewing over the future of Evangelical theology. Roger Olsen, Evangelical theologian at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, protests in a recent article that some Evangelicals (especially me in a recent article in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society) misunderstand “liberal theology.” We think, he says, that liberal theology “is a good label for any deviation from orthodoxy.” So we wrongly label, he says, “any deviation from or attempt to re-form orthodox Christian tradition as ‘liberal.’” Instead, he argues, liberal theology is that which makes modernity rather than Scripture its norm… . Continue Reading »
Last week, scientists in the U.K. announced a “dramatic” step forward into understanding and treating Alzheimer’s. Researchers infected mice with prion disease and then experimented with methods to ameliorate the effects. They discovered a drug compound that stopped “the disease in its tracks,” restoring normal behaviors and preventing memory loss. If the knowledge gained by using mice can be applied to humans, one scientist believes, it will “be judged in history as a turning point” in the fight against Alzheimer’s… . Continue Reading »
Some Republican donors, consultants, and lobbyists are deeply unhappy with the government shutdown and debt ceiling strategy being pursued by Tea Party-affiliated conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee. Their fear”that it is damaging the Republican party and threatening the economy while having no hope of achieving its original goal of defunding Obamacare”is probably correct. But things are worse yet, for the tactical error of the Tea Party Republicans is only one such mistake made by Republicans in the aftermath of the disastrous 2012 election… . Continue Reading »
I am grateful to my friend John Cavadini for his searching review of Evangelical Catholicism. Despite employing a slightly jarring method (erect straw man; concede that straw man is, in fact, straw man; suggest that author should have “blocked” the possibility of anyone erecting straw man), Cavadini raises important questions about the relationship between Christology and ecclesiology that will help clarify the theological architecture and missionary imperative of the evangelical Catholic project, which has been embraced by Pope Francis in his first months as Bishop of Rome… . Continue Reading »
I doubt that Pope Francis has heard of Ernie Banks, the Hall of Fame shortstop. But like “Mr. Cub,” whose love for baseball led him to exclaim “Let’s play two!” before Sunday doubleheaders in the 1950s, the pope from the end of the world seems to think that papal canonizations are better in tandem: hence the Sept. 30 announcement that Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II will be canonized together on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27, 2014… . Continue Reading »
The great Jerry Seinfeld once observed that a man doesn’t care what’s on TV. He only cares what else is on TV. (Seinfeld late-night re-runs being displaced by Modern Family, by the way, is a sure sign of decline.) This seems to me to describe a prevalent attitude towards continuing revelation among many who consider themselves “thoughtful” Latter-day Saints. We forever have our thumb on the channel-change button of ultimate moral-religious truth just in case we might have to change our minds, just as we did in 1890 on plural marriage and 1978 on ordination of black members… . Continue Reading »
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