This, from the Egyptians, the Middle East's stand-up comedians: Hosni Mubarak, Barack Obama, and Vladimir Putin are at a meeting together when suddenly God appears before them. "I have come to tell you that the end of the world will be in two days," God says. "Tell your people." So each leader goes back to …
The Art of William H. Warrington
This post is something of a departure, in that it features the pencil sketch art of my great uncle, William H. Warrington (right, from his carte de visite.) But first some background is in order. William H. Warrington was born 17 September 1846, grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He became the manager of the Vulcan …
The Ten Weeks: Week Five (10-16 January): A Baby Dedication, and Strange Visitors, at the Baptist Church
The setting of the novel The Ten Weeks was exactly forty years ago. This is one of a series of excerpts from the novel, one for each week (except for Weeks Two and Three, which were combined). Click here for more information on the book, including the new e-book version. The First Baptist Church of …
Celebrating the Boar's/Bore's Head at Bethesda-by-the-Sea
Disclaimer: in posting this, I feel like Sarah Hey at StandFirm did when she posted this gem: "I'm sorry. I was unable to resist." So with that out of the way we come to this, from the Shiny Sheet: The 33rd annual Boar’s Head will have two performances at 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday at …
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Book Review: Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso)
One of the points that the late scholar Allan Bloom used to make is that Americans are no longer impacted by great books. Music, other cultural influences, yes, but books? I would have to confess that, much of the time, that was the case for me, too. But in the spring of my junior year …
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Should Christians Drink?
I’ve been putting off writing and posting this, but Sanctus’ post on the Southern Baptists debating this issue has forced my hand, if you please. So it’s time for this blog to broach a subject that not so long ago wouldn’t merit discussion in Evangelical circles. Should Christians drink? (I obviously mean alcoholic beverages.) In …
The "More Catholic Than the Pope" People Head to Rome
Westminster Cathedral sees a mass defection from the Church of England: Up to 50 Anglican clergy, some of whom oppose women bishops, could convert to Catholicism by Easter under a new scheme approved by the Pope. The first of the converts, including three former Anglican bishops, two of their wives, and three former Anglican nuns, …
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The Ten Weeks: Week Four (3-9 January): Dinner with the Freemasons
The setting of the novel The Ten Weeks was exactly forty years ago. This is one of a series of excerpts from the novel, one for each week (except for Weeks Two and Three, which were combined). Click here for more information on the book, including the new e-book version. Verecundan papers had spilt a …
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Happy New Year, Soviet Style
New Year's greeting cards from the Soviet Union. The one at the top is dated 1978; the one at the right 1989. Note how both of them--especially the one at the top--strongly resemble Christmas cards we send (or used to send). In a country where the government operated and subsidised a Museum of Atheism, this …
A Peacenik Doesn't Quite Connect the Dots on the Repeal of DADT
That peacenik, Colman McCarthy of the Washington Post, laments the thought that ROTC will return to the Ivy League: Now that asking and telling has ceased to be problematic in military circles, ROTC has resurfaced as a national issue: Will universities such as Harvard, Yale and other Ivy League schools be opened to Reserve Officers' …
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Positive Infinity 