Adam Gopnik’s piece about G.K. Chesterton in the New Yorker continues to stir up dissenting opinions. The latest comes from one of my favorite contemporary conservatives, Ross Douthat, who writes: But the whole point of the “in the context of his times” argument is precisely that by the standards of the ’20s and ’30s, it [...]
Archive for July, 2008
July 28, 2008
2
The Courage to be Just*
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Reviews (Books)In recent years, evangelical Christians have begun joining tradition of seeking social justice that Catholics and others have long excelled at. In doing so, they have often advocated protecting the poor, the orphan, and the widow on grounds that we ought have the same compassion and mercy that Jesus had. Such grounds are, of course, [...]
July 27, 2008
2
The Future of Feminism
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Theology (Gender)Camille Paglia has penned an interesting analysis of the history and future of feminism. Feminism is a lot like dispensationalism–a lot of people know they don’t like it, even though they don’t really know what it is. Paglia’s article is one of the most helpful and balanced analyses of the movement. Her conclusion: In conclusion, [...]
July 24, 2008
16
The Secluded Life of PZ Myers
By Matthew Lee Anderson in NewsIn case you missed it, PZ Myers has created quite a stir by taking a consecrated wafer from a Catholic Church with the express intent of desecrating it. He has a point, naturally: By the way, I didn’t want to single out just the cracker, so I nailed it to a few ripped-out pages from [...]
July 24, 2008
1
Ross Douthat on “The American Heresy”
By Matthew Lee Anderson in EvangelicalismUnfortunately, it’s hard to disagree with his assessment: Obviously the world of religious conservatism also includes lots of people who are invested in actual Christian orthodoxy, as opposed to the Osteen-Shori vision of God as a really powerful life coach. But the theological continuum that encompasses both Schori-style liberal Protestants and Oprah-watching, The Secret-reading spiritual [...]
July 23, 2008
1
Pearce’s Questionable Case for Shakespeare’s Catholicism
By Matthew Lee Anderson in LiteratureOccasionally I come across a book review so scathing that it makes me laugh, cringe, repent for laughing (in that order) and then pray that I am never the recipient of such harsh language. It is rarely surprising to find such reviews. After all, there are doubtlessly numerous worthy books published each year. It is [...]
July 23, 2008
0
The Evangelical Shift that Wasn’t
By Matthew Lee Anderson in PoliticsOne fo the narratives of this campaign season has been evangelicals newfound freedom from the tyranny of the Republican party. Ironically, the seeds to the narrative were sown back in the fall when the candidate whom evangelicals prominently supported (Huckabee) was painted by the Republican establishment as a closet Democrat. Around that time, I wrote: [...]
July 22, 2008
1
Cutting through the Chatter: High Hopes for PostRank
By Matthew Lee Anderson in BloggingIt’s no secret that as the ranks of bloggers has increased, the need for more effective tools to find the truly hidden gems in the blogging community has increased as well. Those blogs that routinely produce excellent content–see here, here and here, for instance–have solidified their position at the top of the blogging ladder, which [...]
July 21, 2008
4
Medical Costs and End-of-Life Deliberations
By Matthew Lee Anderson in "Questions worth Asking"File this one under the “Questions worth Asking” category. Rob Moll has an excellent summation of a few articles highlighting the way medical expenses are altering how we think about end-of-life decisions and the recommendations doctors make: Certainly life is priceless. But is more life equally invaluable? Dying is different these days. Once, vast resources [...]
July 20, 2008
9
Under Review: The Dark Knight
By Matthew Lee Anderson in Reviews (Films)In 2005, Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins reinvigorated the nearly moribund franchise and introduced a needed sense of gravitas into the comic book genre. Now, three years later, he has returned with The Dark Knight, a riveting and thoughtful exploration of the anatomy of heroism, the necessity of a moral order, and the conflict–and similarities–between goodness [...]
July 15, 2008
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Updating Mere-O
By Matthew Lee Anderson in NewsIt has been brought to my attention that we are currently bombarding folks who read us by RSS with a lot of spam links. Apologies for this–no one hates it more than I. I’ll be working this weekend to remedy the situation, and will probably upgrade Mere-O’s backend to remove some of the security gaps. [...]
July 15, 2008
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Atheistic Woes
By Keith E. D. Buhler in UncategorizedJohn Mark Reynolds at Middlebrow laments the woes of the Extreme Atheist. “It turns out that just as belief in a God of love is no absolute barrier against hateful activity, so too the ideology of atheism is no cure for human evil.” JMNR, Scriptorium Daily.