Feb
28
Intelligent Artistic Design
February 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Whether or not the universe has an intelligent designer, the concept of “intelligent design” that is often bandied about by cosmopundits is completely useless as a scientific notion, since it is both untestable and incompatible with the sort of materialism required in contemporary science. Don’t get me wrong: I believe that the universe does, indeed, [...]
Feb
25
The Ascent of Love
February 25, 2007 | 2 Comments
When I was in the 7th grade I had an overpowering crush on a girl in the 6th grade by the name of Cynthia Shook, whose beauty, to my 13-year-old brain, excelled that of any other entity in the ordo creationis. The crush was a rather consuming one: whenever I saw her in the halls [...]
Feb
25
New Ecclesiastical History Blog
February 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Mr_jargon, who recently has commented on some posts at this blog, has started a new blog himself whose focus will be ecclesiastical history. It is called Neochalcedonian and, if it is possible to tell such things from comments left at other blogs (such as this one), I suspect that it will both interesting and learned. [...]
Feb
23
New Edition of Nestle-Aland Scheduled
February 23, 2007 | 3 Comments
Here’s some exciting news for you bibliophiles and textual critics out there: the 28th edition of Nestle-Aland is scheduled for publication later this year or early next. Nestle-Aland is the standard, scholarly edition of the Greek New Testament.
I don’t know that the 28th edition will represent a significant change over the 27th in terms [...]
Feb
19
Some Virtues of the East
February 19, 2007 | 1 Comment
In my dealings with Orthodox writers, bloggers, apologists, and clergy I have formed a very personal opinion about Eastern Christianity in general that will perhaps come as a surprise to some, but not to all: I wish that Western Christianity could be more like it. Because this is a very personal, intuitive attitude, it is [...]
Feb
19
Insight Scoop
February 19, 2007 | 1 Comment
I’ve just come across a smart blog at Ignatius Press called Insight Scoop, apparently written, for the most part, by Carl Olson. Yesterday it featured a post about a possible re-union between some Anglicans and Rome. Mr. Olson is surely right when he speculates that the possibility of re-unification is perhaps being overstated in the [...]
Feb
17
On Growing Up Intellectually
February 17, 2007 | 7 Comments
Something that Mike Liccione posted recently at Sacramentum Vitae caught my attention and has been percolating in my mind ever since. In discussing the recent debate between Andrew Sullivan and Sam Harris over the existence of God and the usefulness of religion (is anyone else reminded of the Monty Python routine where the existence of [...]
Feb
17
Another Aristotelian Distinction Lost
February 17, 2007 | 7 Comments
One has to admire the proponents of I-957 in Seattle, which ties the legitimacy of marriage to actual procreation, if for no other reason than their willingness to use conceptual entailment as a consideration in the formation of policy, in spite of the fact that their attempt is a rather lame one intended not to [...]
Feb
13
Determinism is Dead
February 13, 2007 | 18 Comments
Stephen Barr is probably my favorite science writer these days: he is both an authority in theoretical particle physics at the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware, and an orthodox Roman Catholic who believes, as do I, that science and religion are not only compatible in the sense that they do not contradict [...]
Feb
5
Students for a Dainty Society
February 5, 2007 | 6 Comments
When I was a young college punk at Kent State University way back in the 1970s, the SDS had already sunk into irrelevance, but they at least tried to keep up appearances of being tough, staging loud and boisterous protests around the campus in which ragged jeans, dirty T-shirts, and very long hair (hey, it [...]
