Despite this phrase’s usual congratulatory significance for outstanding performance, it is also the phrase uttered by the prophet Nathan when he confronted David for his murder of Uriah so he could take his wife. Shortly thereafter in the midst of the accusation, Nathan utters “You did it in secret but I will do this thing […]
Call for Papers | 2012 Meeting of the Wesleyan Philosophical Society Curb Your Enthusiasm? Philosophy and Religious Experience Location: Trevecca Nazarene University, Nashville, Tennessee Conference Date: March 1, 2012 Proposals Due Date: October 1, 2011 Keynote Speaker: Merold Westphal, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Fordham University) Lectures: “Faith as Passion” and “Reason as Dispassion” Not […]
I never thought I’d see the day when First Things — the ecumenical journal founded by Richard John Neuhaus — would review a film by Takashi Miike, one of cinema’s great enfants terrible, but here you go: Ultra-violence, as A Clockwork Orange’s protagonist reminds us, is an art. Takashi Miike agrees, judging from his new remake of Eiichi […]
Our first engagement with Aaron Simmons’ God and the Other: Ethics and Politics after the Theological Turn comes from Christina Smerick who holds the Shapiro Chair in Jewish-Christian Studies at Greenville College. I am honored to have been asked to weigh in on Dr. Simmons’ weighty tome, God and the Other: Ethics and Politics […]
This essay reflects upon the fascinating painting by Velázquez Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, discusses the current Roman Catholic rules of abstinence, and considers the curious fact that these are less rigorous than those adopted by vegetarians and many others in secular society.
When we come to the communion table, we participate in the literal and symbolic culmination of our worship and our lives as Christians. It is an occasion of remembrance and reflection and mystery that both brings us a foretaste of our future communion with God and brings us together as a people. It was at […]
Holy crap. This is awesome. Normally, the lives of people like Palin are beneath my notice (and yes, I mean that in the most pretentious way possible–I’m a living paradox like that), but this is gold. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS4C7bvHv2w&feature=related] Of course, everyone makes mistakes. I can’t even keep the facts about last weekend straight. But, what makes all […]
There seem to be some terribly strange and inconsistent themes at work in terms of biblical interpretation these days. While the early church spent much of its time interpreting the sayings of Jesus (as well as the prophets on issues regarding the poor and the stranger) literally with the more “incredulous” stories as allegorical, there appears to be an odd reversal of this strategy in the contemporary […]
Take a couple of minutes and watch this behind-the-scenes clip from Mauricio Baiocchi’s animated short Cicada Princess.