True Nature of the Occupation

Last updated on: July 22, 2008 at 10:27 am By Morning's Minion

“John McCain has said he will only support a withdrawal based on conditions on the ground. It is our belief that the Iraqi leaders share that view. The disposition of a sovereign, democratically elected government is one of the conditions that will be taken into account.” — Michael Goldfarb, deputy director of communications for the McCain 2008 campaign [emphasis added] The reaction to Nouri al-Maliki’s endorsement of Obama’s Iraq withdrawal timetable is interesting. First, we had an Iraqi government spokesman... Read more

Overcoming the Great Divorce II: C.S. Lewis

Last updated on: July 22, 2008 at 8:00 am By Henry Karlson

Part I If our social structure is disintegrating, is that not precisely because it has no constitutive spiritual principle, no ‘idea’ in Solovyov’s (and Coleridge’s) sense of the term, incarnate in it. Owen Barfield, Introduction in Vladimir Solovyov. The Meaning of Love (Hudson, NY: Lindisfarne Press, 1985):14 – 15. The institution of marriage has always been a difficult institution for Christians to discuss. On the one hand, we know it was established long before the coming of Christ, and was... Read more

Vox Nova at the Movies: WALL-E

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 5:51 pm By M.Z.

When I originally saw previews of this movie a year ago, I thought it would be bad. After having a neighboring family compliment it, I decided to take the children to it. Those expecting a sci-fi movie will be disappointed. The movie does have certain epic qualities to it. One of the better things about the movie is that it lacks a lot of the adult humor that similar films like Shrek and Madagascar employed liberally. You won’t find a... Read more

Dobson: Life and Family, Si, Muslims, No

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 4:19 pm By Morning's Minion

In justifying his change of mind to back McCain, James Dobson stated the following: “Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain.” He followed up by noting that McCain favored “small government” and “seems to understand the Muslim threat.” So much for not defining a... Read more

What is Intelligent Design Theory?

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 12:30 pm By Edward Blackadder

It seems to me that there are at least four different ways we might characterize Intelligent Design theory. 1. As an alternative to Evolution. On this view ID folks would bear more or less the same relationship to Evolutionary biologists as Copernicans did to Aristotelian astronomers in the Sixteenth century. The problem with this characterization is that Intelligent Design theory of itself seems too vague and minimalistic to constitute a real alternative to evolution. All ID folks will say is... Read more

Overcoming the Great Divorce I: The Inklings

Last updated on: July 21, 2008 at 11:09 am By Henry Karlson

The Notion Club, as depicted, was informal and vague in outline. A number of characters appear in the dialogues, some rarely or fitfully. — The Notion Club Papers, in J.R.R. Tolkien. Sauron Defeated: The History of Middle Earth Volume IX. ed. Christopher Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1992), 158. Around 1931, an Oxford student group, founded by future BBC radio broadcaster E. Tangye Lean, met to discuss each other’s ongoing literary efforts. They would read aloud what each had written,... Read more

What Caused the Peace of Europe?

Last updated on: July 20, 2008 at 2:09 pm By Edward Blackadder

After century upon century of periodic warfare, the continent of Europe has, for the last 60 years or so, enjoyed a period of unprecedented peace. Why is that? To hear many Europeans tell it, the recent spate of peace in Europe is due to the advanced moral sentiments of its peoples. After enduring centuries of bloodshed, in the 1940s Europeans finally grew up, and learned to settle their disagreements peacefully (unlike the warmongering Americans). This explanation is only plausible to... Read more

The Feast of St Elijah

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 10:00 pm By Henry Karlson

The feast of St Elijah is a very popular celebration among the Russians. The first church built at Kiev, during the reign of Igor, was dedicated to this Old Testament saint. St. Olga, after her conversion, had a shrine dedicated to him built. Obviously the spectacular end of his life, when he was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, is one of the greatest events of the Old Testament. No wonder the reaction to that event, even centuries... Read more

A positive sign in Iraq

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 10:19 am By Policraticus

After the First and Second Battles of Fallujah, in which the U.S. military laid siege and waste to the Iraqi city of Fallujah, a huge majority of Sunni Iraqis boycotted the January 2005 election (some reports suggested that only 10% of Sunnis voted) over what was widely perceived to be unjust and unnecessary U.S. military force. Prior to the elections (November 2004), the Iraqi Islamic Party, one the most influential Sunni political groups, withdrew from the interim government in protest... Read more

Vox Nova on the Internets: Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog

Last updated on: July 19, 2008 at 2:31 am By Edward Blackadder

Joss Whedon. Neil Patrick Harris. Super-Villains. Musical numbers. Nuff said. All three episodes are available here. Free viewing now, but only for a limited time. Read more

What does "Tamar" mean in Hebrew?