John Ruskin says that we admire certain professions--soldiers, physicians, pastors, and lawyers (?)--because of their self-sacrifice for others or for a higher cause. But "Merchants," he says, are perceived as operating out of self-interest. This is the doctrine of vocation, but Ruskin misses how "Merchants" too can love and serve their neighbors.
Anthony Esolen's book "Defending Boys" explores the nature of boys, what they need, how they think, and how to help them thrive.
The baffling questions about the COVID-19 virus--why it affects people differently, contradictory findings about anti-bodies, etc.--have led researchers to focus on a less understood facet of our body's immune system: T cells. What they are finding is good news for the prospect of immunity and an effective vaccine.
Here in Oklahoma, we woke up a couple of weeks ago to learn that, according to the Supreme Court, half the state is still "Indian Territory," that the Five Tribes that were sent here from the South on the "Trail of Tears" still have jurisdiction over the lands that were promised them in 1856. But the context and the ramifications of that ruling are more complicated than most people realize.
As we face sickness, death, economic disaster, uncertainty, fear, and every other kind of suffering, we need consolation. In this little book, "Christ and Calamity," available for as little as free, Pastor Senkbeil gives us the consolation of Christ. This is not advice or theology: It is pastoral care, the cure of souls.
Now liberals and progressives are also being canceled--censored, derided, fired--by their fellow liberals and progressives. A group of 150 prominent progressives is pushing back with "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate" defending freedom of speech. But now those signatories are being targeted.
America is exceptional both in its achievements and in its capacity for self-criticism. Perhaps it's because our ideals are so high that the reality never fully measures up. Here is a defense of America that is in the form of a critique of our educational, political, and economic establishments.
Why are so many academics and other "intellectuals" so radical in their politics, to the point sometimes of advocating or defending violence? An expert on the Russian revolution sees parallels with today.
Science, the realm that purports to be totally objective, must now conform to the dictates of identity politics. Scientists whose data leads to unapproved conclusions are getting censored and fired. So says physicist Lawrence Krauss.
A video about the patron of this blog, Lucas Cranach and his son, exploring their art, their times, and how they conveyed the spirituality of the Reformation.
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