Last time Andrew Sullivan took note of something I wrote, he implied I was anti-Semitic for writing a favorable obit for RJ Rushdoony. Today, he noted my little piece on health care, published on the First Things web site, on his Daily Dish. I am supposed to have concluded that “the Christian . . . . Continue Reading »
Some good friends, who happen to agree with the substance of my arguments about vulgar speech, suggested that the arguments would be more effective if I didn’t use the obscenities in their full form in the post. I have made the suggested changes on the previous post “On Vulgar . . . . Continue Reading »
I have been taken to task elsewhere on the web for a few posts on my site that included obscene and vulgar words. It’s been argued that my posts violate biblical standards for speech and writing. That’s the issue I want to address in this post. One of the most relevant passages of the . . . . Continue Reading »
Here is another older piece, first published in the Chalcedon Report in 1988 (hence the dated bibliography and references), on the question of how Christians should talk about sex. Part of the point is that even non-obscene terms can be used in ways that undermine Christian sexual morals. . . . . Continue Reading »
Why did God make horse flies? In 1728, William Byrd of Virginia had a guess: God made horseflies “that men should exercise their wits and industry to guard themselves against them.” . . . . Continue Reading »
Elsewhere on the Web, a number of people have taken issue, vigorous issue, with a few posts on this site where I quote other writers using vulgar words. I intend to write something more specific in response to that, but for the moment I’ll simply post an article I wrote in 1991, first . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m just now getting around to looking at Damon Linker’s expose book on the Theocons , so’s I can find out what those First Things folks are really like. I discover that Neuhaus early developed a “pattern of defiance.” Evidence? Oh, you would ask. Well, Neuhaus said . . . . Continue Reading »
Responding to the Rosenstock-Huessy quotation about prayer and research, Eric Enlow of the Handong International Law School sent this from Simone Weil: “Students must therefore work without any wish to gain good marks, to pass examinations; to win school successes; without any reference to . . . . Continue Reading »
Prayer, Rosenstock-Huessy says, is “doubtful, agitated, despairing, searching.” Prayer desperately seeks answers. When prayer cools into a “residue,” it’s called “research”: “If research is real, it still has the dignity of prayer, although it is the . . . . Continue Reading »
On page 159 of her extraordinary Rituals of Spontaneity , Lori Branch writes an “if” as an “id.” . . . . Continue Reading »
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