I’ve been on a J.R.R. Tolkien kick recently. I often read the Lord of the Rings over the holidays; it’s sort of a wintery thing to do. And once I’ve spent that amount of time in Middle-Earth I don’t want to leave. I usually end up reading more and more. I’ll read the Silmarillion and [...]
Archive for the ‘Christianity’ Category
Lewis and Tolkien
Posted in Books, Christianity, tagged C.S. Lewis, Eagle and Child, Leaf by Niggle, Narnia, Tolkien on January 18, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Rage, Rational Dialogue, and Politicizing Christianity
Posted in Christianity, Media, Politics, tagged Bill O'Reilly, Christianity, conservatism, Glenn Beck, Jesus on September 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Watch the clip first. I don’t know what is weirder: 1) the fact that Glenn Beck, in the face of a question he could not answer, screamed at a caller and called her a pinhead, 2) the fact that after the fact he watched the video and defended his actions repeatedly, essentially saying that in [...]
A Good Point About Palin and Letterman…
Posted in Christianity, Politics, tagged Isaiah, Jesus, Letterman, Palin, Politics on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Shannyn Moore is an Alaskan blogger, and wrote a good post about the Palin/Letterman broohaha. I appreciated her even tone and the lack of ad hominems, colorful crude metaphors, and venom-coated barbs trying to disguise themselves as arguments. Check out her blog post. I kept wanting to comment to the bloggers who were name-calling on [...]
Some Hopeful Criticism: The American Family Association and The Timothy Plan
Posted in Christianity, Media, Philosophy, tagged American Family Association, CS Lewis, Stanislav Mishin, The Timothy Plan on June 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »
A few days ago I received a forwarded email from a relative of mine. It was an email from an organization that was drawing attention to an editorial article in the Russian tabloid Pravda. This article, written by Stanislav Mishin, was entitled “American Capitalism Gone with a Whimper.” Its point was, frankly, rather alarmist and [...]
On Critical Theory
Posted in Christianity, Philosophy, tagged academia, critical theory on May 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
One of the big frustrations of my academic career has been my uneasy relationship with critical theory. We both seem to have always been talking at cross-purposes. Critical theory says, “X is really important, and we must work toward it. Y isn’t so much important as X is.” Meanwhile, I’m thinking to myself, “X isn’t [...]
A book by its cover…
Posted in Christianity, Media on April 17, 2009 | 2 Comments »
By now, half the world has heard of Susan Boyle. If you have not, stop now and watch the video of her auditioning for the show Britain’s Got Talent: When I watched this video, it brought me to tears, which doesn’t normally happen on the rare occasion that i watch Britain’s Got Talent. But this [...]
Are They Good or Bad?
Posted in Christianity, Philosophy, Politics on April 5, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’m a student at Claremont Graduate University, and in a course I’m taking this term there was a lecture and discussion on a social reformer and activist named John Commons, who did some really great things in America. While reading some of the blog posts, I became interested in some tension that developed when it [...]
I see Jesus in my oatmeal!
Posted in Christianity, Humor, tagged Jesus on March 16, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Jesus was spotted again. He was apparently seen in a very holy place–on a seat-cushion in a small Catholic church on the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean. The King of Kings, enthroned in glory, on the thing you put your butt on…um…sure. I know he had humble beginnings and everything, but golly. [...]
Angry!
Posted in Christianity, Politics, tagged bailout, injustice, rich on March 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m frustrated today. I’m frustrated at so many things related to our economy, as I’m sure everybody is, but I feel like there are so many things to be said and most of them are staying around the water-coolers and aren’t making it to the blogs or to the bigger news services. In fact, practically [...]
Hey Pope! Try Google!
Posted in Christianity, Humor, Media on March 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
An interesting article from the NY Times having to do with various and sundry things related to the Pope. Here are some excerpts: “MADRID — The letter released Thursday in which Pope Benedict XVIadmitted that the Vatican had made “mistakes” in handling the case of a Holocaust-denying bishop was unprecedented in its directness, its humanity and its acknowledgment [...]
