Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
First, the "I told you so": I have been dealing with the Sunni-Shi'a divide since 2005, now everyone knows how important it is. Now for something different: this, from Andrew Wheatcroft's The Ottomans: Deep in the heart of Arabia, the desert warriors of the Wahabi sect, fanatical in hatred for the wickedness of the world, …
Continue reading "The Ottoman Way of Dealing with the House of Saud"
It's the New Year again, time to look at something substantive. This topic may seem a little arcane, but rest assured there's a grenade with a pin waiting to be pulled. Evangelicals are generally suspicious of the whole concept of relating the Bible to the ancient world around it, except archaeologically. But there are two …
Continue reading "Why Evangelicals Don't Read Philo Judaeus"
It seems that some things never go away, and the running battle over whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God is one of those. The day I picked to take on this subject is deliberate: it's the feast of St. John the Evangelist, which is also one of the great holidays of Masonry. As …
Continue reading "The Silly, Masonic Debate on Whether We Worship the Same God"
Brunei slides past our sybaritic elites: The sultan of Brunei has issued an edict that threatens Muslims with five years in prison if they celebrate Christmas. Christians are told that their celebrations must remain secret or they can be jailed as well. One of my family business' customers was Brunei Shell, as the state sanctioned …
Continue reading "The Place Which Watches the Grass Grow Gets a Pass on Shari’a"
The Most Rev. Eliud Wabukala, Kenya's Anglican primate, lays it out: It has been suggested that the way forward is for the Anglican Communion to abandon the idea that there should be mutual recognition between the provinces and that it should instead find its unity simply in a common relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury. …
Jordan Smith's stunning performance of "Mary Did You Know" on "The Voice" is a reminder of the fact that this song--written by Baptist comedian Mark Lowry--is American Evangelicalism's "official" Christmas carol. What Evangelicals probably don't know is that, for all of their reputation for sloppy theology, Lowry nailed it on this one: Did you know …
Continue reading "The Non-Nestorian Theology of "Mary Did You Know""
Christmas is the time of year when we think of "home". Home for many Americans generates warm fuzzy feelings of a place where things were simpler and life was, somehow, better. It brings memories of places we've left, assuming we've left them behind at all. And it's a place where, for all the saccharine sentiment, …
Continue reading "Home is Where the Heart Is, But the Wallet Cannot Go"
I saw a Facebook post which characterised the Jr. Jerry Falwell's recent comments about concealed carry and Islam as follows: This is probably what most people expect of Fundamentalists-- hyper conservative, right wing bigots who see anyone who disagrees with them as godless enemies. This is religious tribalism at its most basic element. We are …
This little tidbit emerged from Geo-Strata's interview with Dr. J. Michael Duncan of Virginia Tech, justifiably characterised as a legend in his (and my) profession: Q. What was it like at Berkeley during the '60's? "Berkeley in the '60's" is typically required reading in U.S. history classes now. A. (Laughs). I'm surprised you ask this …
Damon Linker starts out his piece on American foreign policy with this predictable assertion: Unlike so many of the blustering Know Nothings trying to become the Republican nominee for president, Clinton and Kagan know a tremendous amount about the world. Clinton, in particular, sounds comfortable talking in granular detail about the intricacies of international affairs, …
Positive Infinity 