Meaning exists in between mind and body, reason and desire. The structure of meaning is captured in the great Western metaphor of the “idea become flesh.” The source of the idea become flesh is love: “God so loved the world” that the divine took on human form. Love is the source of meaning, and all meaning is miraculous. This is a world beyond the conceptual capacities of liberalism. Yet it is our world. The feverish turning from private to public,... Read more

YOU WILL BELIEVE A SQUID CAN FLY! Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: EXCELLENT DECISION OF THE DAY. Set oven to 375 (though you will probably need it hotter). Dice turnips and toss with olive oil; place on foiled baking tray. Add cumin, cayenne, and salt. Roast until the skins are wrinkled and have begun to brown, and the inside is almost melt-in-your-mouth creamy. I needed maybe seven minutes. Say grace, plant face in dish. …I mean, I don’t think I’ve made any decisions today which were better than this one,... Read more

FIGHTING BULLYING WITH BABIES. Fascinating and heartwarming. Cross-posted at MarriageDebate, where you’ll also find China celebrating Singles Day, a more-thorough-than-usual mainstream media look at black women who give birth out of wedlock, a painful report on trafficked women from North Korea, speculation about the housing bubble’s effects on Chinese family culture, and reasons people have lavish weddings. Read more

To begin, we must distinguish norms from meaning, staying within the rules from living a life experienced as one worth living. A person can live a morally proper life, in the sense of living within all of the moral rules that she acknowledges or that others use to evaluate her behavior, yet still live a life that appears to her to be desperately without meaning. … …Each of these oppositions marks a distinction between rules and identity. One wants not... Read more

WE’VE SEEN THE LAST OF GOOD KING RICHARD: MLY says: I think it’s either about King Richard and King John, or Nixon and Kennedy, or both. (Definitely not about Saul and David, however.) here you go Read more

ASK ME, I WON’T SAY NO–HOW COULD I? I’m working on a book about Gay Catholic Whatnot, in a Q&A; format. So this is your opportunity: Ask me anything, anything at all, and while I can’t guarantee it will end up in the book I can guarantee that I will respond. I’m at [email protected] and I want your questions, no matter how specific or weird or rough or inchoate. Read more

If anything, the twentieth century has been marked by the apotheosis of the state, including liberal states.–Paul W. Kahn, Putting Liberalism in Its Place Read more

RIVER OF NAMES: I’m trying to focus on the emotional response, the feeling, of reading Poison River because, frankly, it’s so overwhelming. But intellectually, I think this is Gilbert’s meatiest work as well. more Read more

UNDESIGNATED MOURNERS: Willard Moore replies to my posting of this post from Amy Ziettlow: That seems a little strong, to say that we have “no exterior way to show grief.” The poor build little memorials of plastic flowers, stuffed animals and candles; the rich endow memorial scholarships and awards; memorial websites are established; and graves are much better kept (and much more protected legally) than they were in the 18th and 19th century. We just don’t express grief in our... Read more