Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
I pick up from last time in John of Damascus' The Orthodox Faith, 4,13: For it was fitting that not only the first-fruits of our nature should partake in the higher good but every man who wished it, and that a second birth should take place and that the nourishment should be new and suitable …
Continue reading "Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist: Part II"
In a recent posting on MissionalCOG on the contextualisation of Communion, the thread turned from how to contextualise it to what it meant, and specifically whether it was sacramental or simply an ordinance. Related to this question is the nature of the Eucharist. It's always bothered me that Evangelicals, who are generally solicitous about their …
Continue reading "Reflections on an Orthodox View of the Eucharist: Part I"
This week I'm starting a podcast series featuring Roman Catholic liturgical music from the 1960's and 1970's. Since the Vatican has been busy outlawing certain forms of the divine name and other reversions to the "traditional" Mass, I'm entitling this series "Mass Confusion." The best place to start the Mass is with an Introit (generally …
Hacking into Sarah Palin's Yahoo email account was a low blow: Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate. "This is a …
This, from John Podhertz: The poll could, of course, be an outlier. But if it even begins to approximate the truth, it is huge news. No Republican has scored more than 39 percent of the Jewish vote in modern times, and that was Ronald Reagan in 1980, following a series of missteps by the Carter …
David Brooks goes into a long diatribe of how the attacks of Sarah Palin's experience (or lack of it) are based on snobbery. He makes this observation: In the current Weekly Standard, Steven Hayward argues that the nation's founders wanted uncertified citizens to hold the highest offices in the land. They did not believe in …
Apple shareholders were recently notified by this court document that the "Apple Derivative Litigation" has been settled. A brief summary of this--which relates to backdating of Apple stock options--is as follows: Apple Inc. and several of its officers and directors, including chief executive Steve Jobs, have agreed to settle a stock options backdating case for …
Continue reading "Apple Settles the Derivative Litigation. But They Didn’t Use a Mac!"
This interesting comment from "JaquesArden54" in Why Anglican England is better than Secular France: The French Etat - and the French people in general - have forgotten that there is a difference between the State and Society. This confusion of two distinct realities is an error found within New Labour, Dave's Tories and the European …
Joyce Reingold notes the following astronomical event later this week: Our Star Watch columnist Mike Lynch also advises we mark our calendars for Friday, 9/19, when — conditions willing — the waning gibbous moon will partially cover the Pleiades between 9:30-11 p.m. “It should be quite a sight to begin your weekend,” he writes. A …
Continue reading "Palm Beach Gets Mooned. And There are Stars, of Course."
As a lay person in the pew, I've always thought it would be cool to flash questions, commentary, etc., at the pastor during his (or her) sermon. (At my church, that's possible because there's a screen right in front of the pulpit, but...) Well, near Charleston, SC, one church is trying just that: I’m sure …
Positive Infinity 