December 2008
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A (Not so) Green New Year
The always lovely Green Inc. blog on the New York Times has quite an interesting article out today about the annual New Year’s celebration in New York. The article boasts that the ball is being lit by LED (light-emitting diodes) as opposed to halogen and incandescent bulbs. This I am all for as I fully understand how much less energy LED bulbs use than do halogen and incandescent bulbs....
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Happy Saturnalia (barely)
Saturnalia is the feast with which the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the god Saturn. It was traditionally on December 17 and over time it got extended to run from December 17 to 23.
Christmas has a distinct relation to Saturnalia. Christians in the fourth century assigned December 25 (the Winter Solstice on the Julian calendar) as Christ’s birthday (and thus...
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A Chronic Struggle
I have a chronic struggle.
This struggle of mine is one that I’m sure most everyone deals with at least on occasion. The struggle is simply how much do we share and how much do we keep to ourselves. My version of this struggle is specifically related to religious belief.
I know that never will there be a time when everyone agrees - I, in fact, think this is wonderful, for without...
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Long Term v. Short Term
Welcome guest blogger, Sam Harrelson.
I recently shared this article with him about a scholarly journal that is going to begin requiring its authors to post a summary of their research to the online encyclopdia, Wikipedia, an interesting idea, indeed. I then shared with him this response by Jim West, who vehemently disagrees with this new wiki advice. Below is Sam’s well thought out...
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שָׁלוֹם
Shalom. It means “peace” in Hebrew.
The message that we put on our Christmas cards is that one simple word: shalom.
Peace is what we desire for all who receive our Christmas cards and it is what I desire for all of you.
That is all. I simply wanted to speak a word of peace (literally).
I leave you a bit more personally, though.
שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם (shalom aleichem, peace to you)
“English has allowed split infinitives apparently since the 1450’s - and indeed a...”
– Splitting your Infinitives « ΕΝ ΕΦΕΣΩ (via qualms)
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“Gods die when the visions they support disintegrate. They do not die, however,...”
– John K. Roth, “The Holocaust, Genocide, and Radical Theology: An Assessment of the Death of God Movement” in Stephen R Haynes and John K. Roth, eds., The Death of God Movement and the Holocaust: Radical Theology Encounters the Shoah (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999), 74. Italics...
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“Is God dead? It is a question that tantalizes both believers, who perhaps...”
– “Toward a Hidden God,” Time Magazine, 8 April 1966
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Happy Hanukkah
Hanukkah started this evening at sundown. (Actually, it didn’t. See Correction below)
The holiday’s origins are described in the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees 4:52-59. This is the earliest account (late second century B.C.E.). I quote from the RSV:
52: Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev, in the one hundred and...
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Newsweek Trashes Bible, Part 2
Earlier I wrote about the Newsweek article written from the perspective of a biblical support of gay marriage. Today, David Henson over at unorthodoxology has posted this about where the article goes wrong.
The essence of his argument is summed up in the following quote (though I strongly encourage you to read the entire post, it’s not that long):
So, again, I’ll argue the simple...
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An Anarchic Christmas Song
I saw this posted over on unorthodoxology and had to post it here as well.
Enjoy.
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“The dead grammarians, for all their warts, have soul.”
– ricoblog’s post “New Ideas from Dead [Greek] Grammarians
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Faith Without Reason
This morning at my church some of our children sang and some read lines. The performance was…well, it was a performance. Part of the dialogue stuck out to me, though.
Child 1: How could the creator of the world love me that much? I just can’t wrap my head around it.
Child 2: Thankfully, you don’t have to. You just have to wrap your heart around it.
This says to me that...
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Newsweek Trashes Bible
At least that’s what the American Family Association is saying.
Now, I appreciate debates/arguments over what the Bible says on many issues, homosexuality included. And I have no problem with the AFA purporting their interpretation.
What is amusing/sad is the manner in which they go about it.
“Miller’s article is one of the most biased and distorted pieces concerning...
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"I'm only doing what the Holy Spirit tells me to...
I hope that you have heard of the atrocities going on in Nigeria. My guess, though, is that if you have heard about it you have heard a one-sided story. MetaCatholic has a great post that offers both sides of the issue.
What has bothered me the most, though, is a quote that is included in this story from the Archbishop of Nigeria (a Christian):
When asked if those wearing name tags that read...
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Prayer for Peace
This is the prayer I prayed this morning as the invocation for our service. I borrowed it from Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Oh God, All holy one,
You are our Mother and our Father
And we are your children.
Open our eyes and our hearts
So that we may be able to discern Your work
In the universe,
And be able to see your features in every one of Your children.
Help us to know that You have...
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G-DCAST
Our Friends over at G-DCAST are putting together a series of videos that tell the story of Torah.
Here’s how they describe their site:
What is this?! G-dcast is a place to watch cartoons based on the story Jews are reading in the Torah this week. Low commitment learning! Check out a different narrator for 4 minutes each week - some tell stories, some sing country...
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Wikipedia Gets Germany's National Archive
Well, not all of it, but about 11 million pictures. In a story posted by The Local (Germany) today, the archive’s deputy director, B. Kuhl said that this is an attempt to broaden the archive’s reach. (To see original story go here)
This could certainly have big implications as to the reputation of Wikipedia. Many professors dislike or even loathe wikipedia, even as it continues to...
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Improving Your Writing
Dr. Chris Heard, of Pepperdine University, wrote a fantastic open letter to his students about their writing skills (or lack thereof).
I have, with Dr. Heard’s permission, copied that letter here. Please read and take his advice to heart.
Improve your writing: an open letter to students
Dear present and future students,
You deserve to know that I give grammar and style great weight...
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Facebook's Site Browser
According to the BBC, Facebook is releasing a system called Connect that ” lets Facebook members use their login credentials to access other websites.” Not only that, is “also gives feedback about what a Facebooker’s friends have been doing on those partner sites.”
Why would Facebook do this? The BBC hits the nail on the head: “to ensure that they do not...
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