I really want to reply to Alex Knapp, especially since he’s already found the time to respond to Rust Belt Philosophy’s critique of both me and Knapp, but I’ve been trying to prep for three exams, and two presentations all occurring in the space of two and a half day, so not so much on my end. I’m still not up to doing a big post on consequentialism, so I thought I’d share a little of my coursework to tide... Read more
Yesterday’s post on necessary evils drew two responses, one from Rust Belt Philosophy, one from Alex Knapp, whose post I was originally commenting on. I plan to respond to at least one of them today but not until I do some studying for my epidemiology exam tomorrow morning, so use the morning to check out their thoughts and browse their blogs. Here’s one quote from each: Alex Knapp: And here’s where Ms. Libresco loses me. It appears that she thinks... Read more
I’ve recovered from being sick just in time to face down three midterm exams this week, so my extended response to your comments on my two case studies in my moral thought is still being delayed, but a recent post by Alex Knapp at his new blog at The League of Ordinary Gentlemen gave me a nice opening to address one common critique. In a post titled “Pet Peeves: ‘A Necessary Evil’” Knapp wrote: Let me tell you a phrase... Read more
Today’s installment of the Sunday’s Good Book series of reviews was meant to be about Robert Alter’s Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible, but I’ll confess I didn’t get around to finishing the admittedly slim volume. It was recommended to me by the professor of my oratory class, but I misunderstood the nature of the book. I had thought it was a series of case studies of biblical rhetoric in American political language, or American... Read more
–1– Welcome, visitors from Jen’s blog! If you’ve got a spare moment, I’d appreciate your advice about possible Lenten disciplines I should consider. Last year was a big bust for me. –2– The Guardian had a very interesting series of essays on the impact of the King James translation of the Bible. The first essay is by novelist Jeanette Winterson who wrote Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, a quasi-memoir I am very fond of. She wrote: Even now, the... Read more
Lent starts very late this year, but I was prompted to start thinking about the season while reading a blog post at Abigail’s Alcove. Abigail is trying to focus on strengthening a sense of love and charity for all people, and is considering praying for Osama bin Laden as part of her Lenten discipline. Last year, I made two Lenten resolutions: one religious, one secular. I tried to commit to using my free weights every day and to giving... Read more
Hence the lack of posts recently. Nothing bad, just fever and sore throat + runny nose which unfortunately rules out any chance I have strep and could have this cleared up by antibiotics, alas. I should be up to posting (and responding to your comments on ethics case studies one and two) soon, but, in the meantime, here’s some other reading you can do: I‘m reading novels (since I’m pretty sure they boost my immune system) and I’m about... Read more
The last post I wrote about parts of my ethics that my friends label as ‘Christian,’ several commenters wrote in to take issue with the idea that Christians had a monopoly on that strand of moral thought. I thought I’d run another example by you all, since my resolution to a recent dilemma had my atheist friends snickering and saying, “You are such a Catholic!” So here’s the situation: My university is in the middle of the drive for the... Read more
Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, [and] my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, [for] a sweet savour unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season. And thou shalt say unto them, This [is] the offering made by fire which ye shall offer unto the LORD; two lambs of the first year without spot day by day, [for] a continual burnt offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in... Read more
–1– Earlier this week, I used an essay I had written about shame to talk about some of the ways that Christian metaphysics seem to match my ethics (part of a series of posts inspired by Chesterton). I’m going to respond to a few of the questions on the most recent post, but it seems like interest/confusion is petering out. If you have a question on those topics I haven’t answered, pleas comment this weekend, so I get the chance... Read more
Unequally Yoked
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