Before I left DC to start my new job, I arranged a The Great Divorce bookclub with an atheist friend. Somehow, just in the lead up to the argument we managed to pull in Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and the Grand Inquisitor scene from The Brothers Karamazov. (And now I’ve got him reading Ted Chiang’s “Hell is the Absence of God“). But aside from the pleasure of a good fight, making my friend grant that this soteriology made more internal sense than... Read more
— 1 — Sorry to have been absent! I’ve had a few 15 hour days, since I’ve arrived at my new job at a very busy time and I’m still trying to find housing and put an end to my itinerant living. There will definitely be a more usual schedule of posting starting Wednesday, but no guarantee til then. Luckily, I’ve got something nice for you to pass the time with. Scott/Yvain has the updated handbook for his Dungeons and... Read more
— 1 — Well, starting a job during crunch time for the organization plays merry hob with my plans to write. It’s been a frenetic (though enjoyable!) time, and I’m hoping that some more free time over the weekend will give me the space to prewrite some post and format the already-existing guest posts for the Naming Infinity bookclub. As part of the moving hubbub, I was trying to finish some books that I meant to read, but didn’t necessarily plan to... Read more
I really like it when my blog becomes a kind of backdoor pilot for spinoff conversations on other blogs. A conversation in the civil same sex marriage thread spun into a dialogue Irenist and Jake over at the former’s blog (Marginalia). There are three posts in the series so far. In the first, Irenist responds to some of Jake’s comments and questions about how religiously motivated a law is allowed to be. The U.S. was designed not to have an... Read more
— 1 — Happy day after Valentine’s Day and Susan B. Anthony’s birthday! There are many admirable kinds of love, but the most powerful may be the kind my mother displayed for me yesterday, when she helped me pack up everything I owned and then drove us both back up to New York for my final leavetakings. There were three boxes of books, and several labelled “Costumes/Props.” And about four to five unsuccessful corset mockups ended up in the trash... Read more
Today’s the day that everyone lists what they gave up for Lent (I’m taking on time for lectio divina and giving up going to bed after 1am), but , for me, the more moving sacrifice happened this weekend, on the last Sunday in Ordinary Time. I changed my mind about Christianity the night before Palm Sunday last year, so I’ve never experienced Ash Wednesday as a believer before. The first Mass I went to as a Christian was the jubilant Palm... Read more
Posts have been a little scarce on the ground here, because I’m in the middle of prepping to change jobs and change coasts. Scrapping with everyone about religion, philosophy, and musical theatre is fun, but it’s not how I earn my living. I have sometimes said that, in my dream job, I would have a badge that said “Methodology Cop” and I would be allowed to kick in doors and help people overhaul their research projects and interventions. “Ma’am, I... Read more
— 1 — Sorry posting has been so scant here! I have something delightful happening in my non-blogging life, which I can discuss on Monday. There will probably be a bit of a slow period during the logistical madness, but that’s when I plan to start posting the delightful guest posts for the Math and Theology bookclub that some of you have been contributing. To make it up to you, this is awesome: — 2 — Now, from here... Read more
Sorry to be tardy posting this weekend. I’ve had a lot on my plate (including a delightful Twelfth Night party, in which this chocolate bourbon cake was my answer to Sir Toby Belch’s question “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”). You may remember that I have a group of friends who sometimes have me NPC (play an antagonist or ally) in their Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. They last appeared on the... Read more
— 1 — It has been a busy week for me, so lets all kick back and enjoy some slow motion video of burning gasoline being thrown through the air. — 2 — Meanwhile, around the internet, some of my college chums had some great essays this month. Helen Rittelmeyer has a great piece on the Leopold half of Leopold and Loeb: We know that Leopold was seduced by Nietzsche and then saved from death by Clarence Darrow’s closing statement,... Read more
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