Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
Donald Trump's anticipated choice of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State already has people riled up. What could a dirty oil man--especially one who has "relations" with the Russians--do for this country's foreign affairs? The first thing Donald Trump has doubtless found out is something this blog has said for a long time: …
Continue reading "Tillerson for Secretary of State? Of Course!"
The incoming administration is doing many things that put their opponents--and some of their supporters--in a lather. That's not hard to do these days in the US, it seems that everyone pretty much lives that way. One of those is with the Chinese--taking a call from Taiwan's president, his threats regarding trade, etc. I have …
Continue reading "My Thoughts on Donald Trump and the Chinese"
Almost five years ago I interviewed Abu Daoud, the legendary Anglican missionary and scholar on Islam. (You can see Part 1 and Part 2 of that interview.) Well, praise be to Allah, he's emerged from the shadows with a book entitled Sharing Jesus with Muslims in America. This interview was conducted at an undisclosed location. …
Continue reading "An interview with Abu Daoud about “Sharing Jesus with Muslims in America”"
Today is St. Andrew's Day, usually the first major saint's day in Advent. He's also not only the patron saint of Scotland; he was also the saint after which my prep school was named. (It's having problems of its own these days, but that's another post...) In any case, at chapel time we always sang …
Continue reading "St. Andrew's Day: Calling Us O'er the Tumult…"
Four facts to consider: President-elect Trump wants to revoke citizenship for those who burn the flag. Many have promised to leave the U.S. if he becomes President (which he will, Deo volente.) Renunciation of U.S. citizenship is at a high level. Paperwork for same renunciation is slow. Our State Department can work out a nuclear …
It's all the rage these days, in the wake of Trump's victory, to attack (generally conservative) "faux news" sites, even to the point of getting them blocked or banned altogether. This rage (like every other rage) isn't a new as people think: I was accused of this back in 2008, when I posted this piece …
In The Worse Plotting Against the Better, XLVIII, Philo Judaeus observes the following: On which account it seems to me that all men who are not utterly uneducated would choose to be mutilated and to become blind, and not to see what is not fitting to be seen, to become deaf and not to hear …
Continue reading "Avoiding Evil Just Isn't a Top Priority Any More"
And we mean everybody: Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) in next month’s re-run presidential elections, wants Hungary to join a new alliance consisting of former members of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The far-right politician believes Central European countries with similar cultures, including Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, and …
Way back in 2003, Christianity Today ran an article that began like this: Elaine Pagels, the famous historian of early Christianity, once told a revealing story about the social world behind the scenes of high-powered biblical scholarship. As a young up-and-coming professor at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, she was invited …
Continue reading "Three Sheets to the Wind: Seminary Academics and Orthodoxy"
Theoretical physicist Michio Kaku lays it out: “I have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence,” Kaku said, as quoted by the Geophilosophical Association of Anthropological and Cultural Studies. “To me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped …
Positive Infinity 