December 2009
27 posts
“It’s not security theater we need, it’s direct appeals to our...”
– Is aviation security mostly for show? by Bruce Schneier
The Things He Carried - Jeffrey Goldberg- The... →
Airport security in America is a sham—“security theater” designed to make travelers feel better and catch stupid terrorists. Smart ones can get through security with fake boarding passes and all manner of prohibited items—as our correspondent did with ease.
How Sin Affects Scholarship by Stephen K. Moroney →
On the often forgotten noetic effects of sin.
Seeking with Groans by Thomas Hibbs →
The moral universe of film noir.
the lilt and texture... the cool feel of the glass...
pausetowonder:
Terry Eagleton did an interesting series of articles when he published his book “How to Read a Poem”. Enjoy!
Part One: Misunderstood
Part Two: Rhyme and metre
Part Three: Rhythm
Part Four: Tone and Mood
Part Five: Ambiguity
Part Six: Imagery
“In the struggle for equality between the sexes, it keeps coming down to...”
– Femina Sapiens in the Nursery by Kay S. Hymowitz.
“To better understand contemporary culture, consider an analogy to romance....”
– Three Tweets for the Web by Tyler Cowen
“In our culture, we have all accepted the notion that the right to know is...”
– W.H. Auden, The Dyer’s Hand, as quoted by Alan Jacobs in A Theology of Reading.
“Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part...”
– Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, as quoted by Alan Jacobs in A Theology of Reading.
The QI Manifesto
Ten steps to making your life more interesting
Everything is interesting. You just have to look at it the right way. At the beginning of QI [Quite Interesting], we set ourselves the Quite Boring challenge, to see if we could turn up anything that was intrinsically dull. We failed. Allow yourselves the luxury of looking closely and patiently at anything – a turnip, the history of Chelmsford, a...
Toward a non-anthropocentric theology →
Lee’s list of recommended books.
How to Rotate Your Car Tires Correctly →
A Case for a Christocentric-Missional Universalism... →
“The heart of the Grundtvigian view can thus be seen to be an existential...”
– Confessing Evangelical » Grundt work
Confessing Evangelical » Love, not law, is the... →
“It seems to me that critiques of individualism invariably come beset with a...”
– Critiques of Individualism as Will to Power – Inhabitatio Dei
The Devil's Party →
Alan Jacobs’ review of His Dark Materials.
Year End Reading Report
Last year I read through C.S. Lewis’ major fiction for the first time. This year I was similarly obsessed with Neil Gaiman. Ten of this year’s 41 books were by him. I cannot recommend him highly enough. If you’ve never read him I recommend starting with any one of The Graveyard Book, Stardust, or American Gods. The first is a children’s book, the second a fairy tale, and...
An overview of the thought of Ivan Illich and a collection of links to his writing.
Anti-Statism In America | The New Republic →
A nice explanation of Americans general mistrust of government expansion. Particularly useful is the distinction between “ideologically conservative” and “operationally liberal”.
“If the primary sources produce false general impressions, such as that Jesus was...”
– Dale Allison, as quoted by Lee in “The Real Jesus”.