Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin unloads on his own church's social media movement/blogosphere: Catholic keyboard warriors who "spend all day attacking and responding" on social media in the belief that they are "defending the integrity of Church teaching" have been sharply criticised by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. For those of us who have been …
Continue reading "They Used to Say Same Thing About the Anglican/Episcopal Blogosphere, Too"
With the canonisation of Anglicanism's most famous convert to Roman Catholicism, there's been a dust-up about Newman's sexual orientation, especially by the dreadful James Martin, SJ (whose own mendacity about his own celibacy helped get him into the Society of Jesus.) A long time ago this site posted an academic paper by David Hilliard about …
Continue reading "The “unEnglish and Unmanly” Part of (now) St. John Henry Newman"
It is just over nine years ago now that I was laid up in my hospital bed at OHSU in Portland, OR; I was being treated for an incurable, rare, and highly aggressive cancer known as Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor sarcoma (DSRCT). The prognosis of this particular cancer is almost always imminent death (within […] …
Continue reading "The Problem of God, Evil, Cancer and My Nurse — The Evangelical Calvinist"
There's a lot of talk these days about why we should or shouldn't invade Iran, but I would submit this cautionary note, from all places my devotional book Month of Sundays: King Cyrus was on top of the world. From mountainous Persia he ruled a vast empire; he was secure enough to allow the Jews …
Continue reading "A Lesson from Herodotus About the Perils of Invading Iran"
Albert Mohler makes an interesting point: Third, looking specifically at the baptism numbers, the decline is both remarkable and lamentable. The most obvious insight is that we do not care as much about reaching lost people as we once did. That would be the observation that should cause Southern Baptists greatest concern. We will consider …
Continue reading "Revivalistic Christianity Requires a Christian Society? Not Quite."
It’s here a last: Soils in Construction, the Sixth Edition, now available from Waveland Press. Many of you (and especially those who are familiar with the companion site vulcanhammer.info) are aware that I’ve spent much of my career in geotechnical engineering and deep foundations dealing with contractors. As such I am both sympathetic with their […] …
Continue reading "Soils in Construction (Sixth Edition) Now Available — vulcanhammer.net"
ICYMI, I've migrated the music that's been on this site to YouTube. That took some time and effort but I think it's worth it. The central reason for that is that it gives the artists (and their record companies) the opportunity to earn some revenue off of the music, even though most of them are …
Historical amnesia is a common American malady. One of those aspects of American life that is oft forgotten is that of the "acceptable religion," the idea that certain religions are more socially acceptable (and thus more amenable to their adherents moving up) than others. In the past, this was mostly an intramural contest within Christianity …
Continue reading "The “Acceptable Religion” Concept Makes a Comeback"
A favourite pastime of the #straightouttairondale crowd is to trash just about every piece of Catholic music written after 1965 (except, of course, what they put out.)Â Boosting the "Jesus Music" era is a goal of this blog, but this gem has an appeal that gets past not only their idea but Roman Catholicism …
Continue reading "Wake From Your Sleep: The “Modern” Christmas Carol With a Traditional Sound"
Positive Infinity 