Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
I recently got myself into a debate I never thought I would: the veneration of icons. It seems that Abu Daoud got himself into a dispute with one JMW over the veneration/worhsip of icons. So he threw it out to the rest of us for discussion. One of Abu Daoud's respondents wondered why a dialogue …
Continue reading "A Matter of Priority, and a Challenge to Eastern Orthodoxy"
Evidently someone at Mexican ad agency Teran|TBWA was consuming some of their client Absolut's product when they produced this: Reminds me of something my Russian representative told me one time. He confidently declared that "In Russia, there is a saying that, 'There is no agreement without vodka.'" He paused, thought, then added, "And that's why …
Continue reading "Some Clients’ Products Shouldn’t be Consumed During Work"
The UK's Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks makes a plea for tolerance: The real question, which has echoed time and again through the corridors of history, is whether we can find ways of living together, despite the fact that we can't find ways of believing or worshipping together. That is what the Bible teaches in its …
Continue reading "Reply to Jonathan Sacks: But It’s the Tradition!"
Abu Daoud, in his reflections on Pope Paul VI's encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi, makes the following observations: The name of this strategy that I have heard is "training the trainer," though though are other names. The traditional model in missions was to send out a pastor-missioner or a group of missionaries who would start a church …
Continue reading "Training the Trainers: The Key to Successful Missions"
Ted Turner thinks that there are too many people in the world: "We're too many people; that's why we have global warming," he said. "Too many people are using too much stuff." So is he prepared to volunteer himself and his family to bail out first? That's always the tricky part for advocates of things …
Chattanooga city councilman Manny Rico puts the matter simply: Councilman Manny Rico, who was also at the press conference, said he has no problems with Capt. (Jeannie) Snyder continuing to carry a gun. He said, "I think every woman should carry a gun in this evil time." And be prepared to use it too: Chattanooga …
Continue reading "“Every woman should carry a gun in this evil time”"
Argentine President Cristina Kirchner knows how to choose a sore subject: "The sovereign claim to the Malvinas Islands is inalienable," she said in a speech marking the 26th anniversary of Argentina's ill-fated invasion of the islands, located 480 kilometers (300 miles) off shore. The April 2, 1982 invasion prompted then British prime minister Margaret Thatcher …
This week's podcast takes us to inner city Chicago, where Peter Scholtes put together one of the most interesting (if not the most polished) productions of early post-Vatican II Catholic Music. The song featured is Choose Life, with a decidedly "African" sound. It comes from the album They'll Know We are Christians By Our Love, …
Bowdoin's admissions director hasn't figured out what's really happening out there: “I know why it matters so much, and I also don’t understand why it matters so much,” said William M. Shain, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin. “Where we went to college does not set us up for success or keep us …
Every now and then, I get inquires (especially from Anglicans) on whether they should become Orthodox. My usual response is to refer them to this, the Life of the Archpriest Avvakum by Himself. I've missed it on this one: the Mystificator from Romania has 275 reasons why one shouldn't become Orthodox. The remaining time, amounting …
Positive Infinity 