Hobbes, Leviathan : “The nature of Power is in this point, like to Fame, increasing as it proceeds; or like the motion of heavy bodies, which the further they go, make still the more haste . . . . So that in the first place, I put for a generall inclination of all mankind, a perpetuall and . . . . Continue Reading »
It’s remarkable how often de Lubacian themes come up in political discussions nowadays. Kahn: In calling citizens to sacrifice, “Political rhetoric affirms that in the life of the nation, we never die. We are assured of a kind of secular resurrection: he who believes in the nation shall . . . . Continue Reading »
As I suspect, it always comes back to baptism, infant baptism in particular. Kahn: “Liberalism has never produced an adequate explanation of the family, because we cannot understand children” without the framing assumptions of liberalism - its assumption that the individual is the . . . . Continue Reading »
Kahn: “No great insight is required to see the movement toward the pornographic in the representations of romance, or the move toward romance in the genre of the pornographic. This is the great secret inside the romantic: romantic lovers are coconspirators in the pornographic moment. The . . . . Continue Reading »
Kahn again, using the story of Abraham to discuss the erotic foundations of both family and political order: “The Abraham story . . . tells us that meanings must be borne directly on the body. The covenant requires circumcision . . . . The flesh must bear the idea; it must appear as a text . . . . Continue Reading »
Kahn again: “We simultaneously affirm an international legal order of human rights; a global order of sovereign states; and a single market that knows no geographic bounds. These are the perspectives of reason, will, and desire. Each can make a global claim, geographically and conceptually. . . . . Continue Reading »
Paul Kahn ( Putting Liberalism in Its Place ) traces the dominance of economic/market logic in modern politics to questions about the “faculties of the soul.” On the economic model of these faculties, he argues, interest is “modeled on bodily desire.” This does not mean that . . . . Continue Reading »
Drawing on the work of James Scott, Richard Horsley ( Jesus in Context: Power, People, and Perfomance ) offers this remarkable description of first-century temple worship: “The ideology of the Temple and high priesthood, both being institutions of venerable antiquity, aimed to symbolize that . . . . Continue Reading »
Yeah, I know Jindal has endorsed Perry. But he just won a crushing reelection in Louisiana. He has a record as a spending cutter who can maintain core government services. He know health care policy. He is conversant on national issues. He is a competent and energetic . . . . Continue Reading »
1. Carl is right that we aren’t talking enough about the courts and that a second Obama term would make it very likely that we will have a decisive liberal Supreme Court majority with who-knows-what ability to make future conservative electoral victories fruitless to a large degree. 2. . . . . Continue Reading »
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