Posts that relate in some way to my books. Excludes administrative posts and most reviews of other people’s books.
Rossini said of Wagner that he had great moments but bad quarter hours. I’m paraphrasing this as a short post-mortem on President George W. Bush. I think that several times during his presidency, George Bush showed the potential for greatness, but only for a moment. The way in which he has handled the transition, for…
From Bruce Alderman: To be honest, I think the ugliest thing about Christianity is the pervasiveness of preachers and apologists who try to scare people into the faith, and who seek to reduce their flocks’ exposure to other viewpoints. … The entire post is worth reading. There’s a great deal of good material in the…
On Meet the Press on Sunday Tavis Smiley made a comment that stuck with me. I have to extract this from a longer statement, and you can find the whole thing here. He said: … I think, though, it’s important to state that Obama’s election is a down payment on King’s dream, it is not…
Charles Jones has a post a Power of Suggestion in which he notes the following: But evolution cant allow things, because its unguided. And it cant make any mistakes, because it makes no decisions. Take note: whenever people try to explain how something happens through evolution, they always resort to the language of design. Now…
Christopher Smith has written a three part series on chauvinistic passages in the Bible. The passages are: 1 Corinthians 11:3-16 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 1 Timothy 2:11-15 In general I agree with what he writes, though I think the balance of evidence is slightly in favor of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. I tended the other way on…
From Only Wonder Understands: This week, in working on a sermon on transforming discipleship (drawing on some materials by Trevor Hudson) I was reminded that Jesus always values people over efficiency and effectiveness. One might also remember that what is efficient will depend on what one’s goal is. And yes, I think it’s a good…
… or almost, that is. According to this Christian Post story, quite a variety of clergy have joined in the various services that will be involved in the inauguration. So if people want to bash Rev. Rick Warren or Bishop Gene Robinson, they should at least consider the broader range of targets available. Before anyone…
According to OneNewsNow, an organization only slightly less paranoid than WorldNetDaily, Rick Warren is praising President-Elect Obama for inviting Bishop Gene Robinson to pray at the inauguration as well. After supporting Proposition 8 in California and then accepting the President-Elect’s invitation, it’s possible that nobody will be happy with Rick Warren any more. They note…
In my daily reading I encounter many different types of literature, each of which relates to the science I know in a different way. For example, I might read a newspaper, in which case the question is just what is an article about. Is it about art? I will look at it through one set…
Update (1/15/09): For those in the habit of reading posts and skipping comments, I want to note that there is an important and substantial exchange of comments between Peter Kirk (Gentle Wisdom), Jeremy Pierce (Parableman), and myself that helps clarify this issue substantially. In my first post in this series, I made the following comment…
