[I find these Jewish answers to resonate with similar answers in Jonathan Edwards’s writings.] The first to raise this question was the talmudic sage, Rabbi Yohanan, who observed that “this verse offers an excuse to heretics to argue that God denied them the opportunity to repent.” His colleague (and intellectual sparring partner), Reish Lakish, responded by observing that only after Pharaoh had established a pattern of obstinacy by hardening his own heart five times does God then proactively cause it... Read more

A familiar metaphor to describe the Republican coalition is the “three-legged stool,” where each leg represents social, economic, and defense conservatives. It has traditionally been said that the coalition will collapse if any of the legs is cut off. Yet every so often, we hear various commentators calling in more or less ominous tones for the social conservative leg to be whittled down. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/01/4588 Read more

by Charles J. Chaput January 24, 2012 While some people resent the imperfection, the inconvenience, and the expense of persons with disabilities, others see in them an invitation to learn how to love deeply without counting the cost. God will demand an accounting. Adapted from remarks delivered at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/01/4575 Read more

It is almost too much to contemplate: the prospect that we are living in the midst of, and accepting (to various degrees) one of the greatest human holocausts in history. And so we don’t contemplate it. Instead, we look for ways to deny this grim reality, minimize it, or explain away our complacency—or complicity. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/01/4577 Read more

It’s pretty bad when a writer of Leonard Pitts’ caliber — a Pulitzer Prize winner, no less — resorts to name-calling and bigotry to express disagreement with a presidential candidate’s position on same-sex marriage (“A loud, vigorous ‘Boo!’ to Santorum,” Jan. 12 column). That he considers it appropriate for rude, immature college students to boo a presidential candidate is even worse. http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/303653 Read more

Note: The author of this article was attacked this week by masked intruders and stabbed repeatedly. Every day we see detention and summoning of citizens by the dozens; not for unlawful acts they committed, but mostly for who they are and what they think, or for their mere political affiliation. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=449852 Read more

The Greeks did not invent equality. Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, and the gang famously believed that the rich are different from you and me—not merely because they are shaped by their privileges but because they are actually, literally made of superior stuff. The Greeks believed that the gods formed the rich from finer clay, with gold mixed in for the aristocrats, silver for the commercial class, and cheap iron and brass for the rest of us lowly plebeians. Almost invariably, great... Read more

In 1924, at 18, Arendt went to study philosophy at the University of Marburg, where Martin Heidegger was establishing his reputation as the most important continental philosopher of the twentieth century. Like many of Heidegger’s brilliant Jewish students (Herbert Marcuse was another), Arendt was mesmerized by his lectures. Heidegger, in turn, quickly recognized Arendt’s intellectual gifts and agreed to mentor her dissertation. He also became her secret lover, though he was more than twice her age and married with children.... Read more

St. John Study Tour Of Israel-Jordan Pastor Mark Graham and I are leading a 12-day tour of Israel and Jordan from Dec. 28, 2012 to January 8, 2013. The price is $4399, which includes a private bus from Roanoke to Dulles airport, roundtrip flights from Dulles to Israel and Jordan, all meals except lunches, all lodging and taxes, tips and entrance fees. We have a wonderful itinerary planned—Jerusalem, Galilee, Caesarea, the Golan, Mt. Nebo in Jordan, and the legendary Petra... Read more

Physics is an unhealthy line of work in today’s Iran. A few days ago, 32-year-old Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan died in his car, after two motorcyclists attached a magnetic shaped charge to the door. You can see Roshan among the men in white coats, beaming modestly behind President Ahmadinejad, in a photo taken a few months ago. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9010007/An-informal-addition-to-the-laws-of-physics-dont-work-for-Iran.html Read more