Guitar Priest

Tradition and Epistemology

2008-10-06T09:41:00.002-05:00

Most Protestants believe that Tradition -- the substance of the Church's reflection on Scripture that has emerged over the last 2000 years -- is not a proper source of theological authority. Instead, many argue, that Sacred Scripture is the only proper source and it should be set against Tradition.

This is highly problematic. While in the abstract, it is correct that a particular belief or idea is not necessarily true just because it has been believed or practiced for a long time, it does not follow that Tradition ought to be rejected on these grounds. The impulse, indeed the need, to accept Tradition and bow to its authority is based on a proper understanding of the limits of human knowing and a right posture to the knowledge of others.

The need to accept authoritative Tradition is based on a kind of benefit of the doubt epistemology. If a certain Christian belief or practice is in question who should receive the benefit if the doubt, the contemporary interpreter who has a new reading of a given text(s) of scripture or the consensual reading of the Church's Great Tradition?

I argue that the Tradition gets the benefit of the doubt. I understand that in the abstract the contemporary interpreter may be correct and the Tradition wrong. But how do I know that? Really, in the end, only God knows for sure. But from my vantage point, the most prudent and wise response is to go with the consensual view from Tradition.

In my own Anglican Church there is a debate about whether or not homosexual behavior is legitimate Christian practice. Some are arguing that fresh insight from Sacred Scripture should lead the Church down a new path. Others (the majority) argue that the Church should stay with its traditional beliefs and practices regarding human sexuality.

Those who want to revise the Church's teaching may well be correct that the Church has been wrong about this issue. But the prudent and reasonable question to ask is, "Which source should receive the benefit of the doubt, the traditional view or the revisionist view?" Asked this way, one ought clearly to bow to the Tradition.

Embracing the Great Tradition is the most reasonable and prudent way forward in discerning proper Christian belief and practice. To reject it is unwise and possibly tainted by hubris.

Frightening

2008-09-30T10:48:00.000-05:00

So will there be a national youth corps with uniforms and armbands when Obama is elected?

Both McCain and Obama are Reading It

2008-09-16T15:16:00.002-05:00

This must be an important book since both McCain and Obama and reading it and taking counsel from its author.

I just ordered it.

Interesting Ad

2008-09-16T14:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry, But Income Has Been Going Up, NOT Down

2008-09-16T07:13:00.005-05:00

Facts are stubborn things. Usually a person's commitment to an ideology makes them unwilling to look at the facts. Nevertheless, facts are facts.

One of the myths of American political speak is that the last 25 years only benefited the rich. This is patently false.

In the Wall Street Journal Arthur Laffer and Stephan Moore make this case in their article New Evidence on Taxes and Income:

The new Census Bureau data on income and poverty reveal that many of the economic trends in this country are a lot more favorable than America's detractors seems to think. In 2007, overall real median family income increased to $50,233, up $600 from 2006. The real median income for intact families -- mother and father in the home -- rose to $78,000, an all-time high.

When all sources of income are included -- wages, salaries, realized capital gains, dividends, business income and government benefits -- and taxes paid are deducted, households in the lowest income quintile saw a roughly 25% increase in their living standards from 1983 to 2005. (See chart nearby; the data is from the Congressional Budget Office's "Comprehensive Household Income.") This fact alone refutes the notion that the poor are getting poorer. They are not.

HT to Kruse Kronicle -- my favorite and IMO the best economics blog on the web!! Go read it!!

A New Andrew Mellon...the solution to the financial crisis

2008-09-15T09:45:00.001-05:00

"Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate … It will purge the rottenness out of the system. High costs of living and high living will come down. People will work harder, live a more moral life. Values will be adjusted, and enterprising people will pick up the wrecks from less competent people …"

Sigh -- they will try to fix it...and then make it worse. Ugh.

Comparing How the Candidates Give to Charity

2008-09-12T15:48:00.003-05:00

"Biden has only been giving 0.06% - 0.31% of his adjusted gross income to charity.
Obama does substantially better at 5.8% - 6.1%, but it's still really stingy compared to McCain who is way up in the 27.3% - 28.6% range. Is this out of whack with political ideology? I say no! Conservatives believe private charity should bear more of the burdens of caring for the unfortunate and other good works. Liberals want to see government do more, and we're expected to pay taxes to pay for it. I see no hypocrisy here at all."

From the Althouse Blog

My First Try at a Podcast

2008-09-12T12:35:00.003-05:00

My first try at a podcast;

Saint Patrick's Podcasts
#1 Infant Baptism

I am waiting for it to come online at iTunes.

Rosenberg Co-Conspirator Admits He Was a Soviet Spy

2008-09-11T17:27:00.002-05:00

Ever since he was tried and convicted with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges in 1951, Morton Sobell has maintained his innocence.

Until now. In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Sobell, who served nearly 19 years in Alcatraz and other federal prisons, admitted for the first time that he had been a Soviet spy. And he implicated his fellow defendant, Julius Rosenberg, in a conspiracy that delivered to the Soviets vital classified military information and what the American government claimed was the secret to the atomic bomb.

Read it all

For decades the "proper" view of the Rosenbergs is that they were innocent progressives railroaded by the Government. Looks like the government was right.

Remembering 9/11

2008-09-11T06:37:00.003-05:00

Multi-culturalism (the idea that all cultures are equally good and equally valid) was completely discredited 7 years ago today. The four airliners that plowed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field are vivid reminders that radical Islam and the culture(s) that produced it are deeply diseased and must not -- must not -- be allowed to dominate the world stage.

A decision contunues to lie before the West. Do we want freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal rights and economic well being to spread throughout the world or do we want sharia, hanging of homosexuals, covered women and executions for adultery to dominate.

Food Prices Fallen Over the Last 100 Years

2008-08-27T06:18:00.004-05:00

Dr. Mark J. Perry, professor of Economics at University of Michigan at Flint shows that prices have fallen over the last 100 years.

Do a Google search for "rising food prices" and you'll get 391,000 results, while a search for "falling real food prices" gets about 144 results, a ratio of 2,700:1. Maybe we get so focused on the most recent year or two of rising prices for products like eggs that we lose sight of the longer term, historical trends.

HT to Kruse Kronicle

The Obama Campaign as a Sign of a Culture in Need of God

2008-08-26T11:19:00.002-05:00

The Obama candidacy is a sign of a culture in desperate need of God. I have never seen this degree of hope, faith and religious fervor placed on a candidate. What is sad is that he will disapoint. This is not a comment on Obama's character nor on his stances. If you read this blog, you can easily infer that I am not an Obama supporter. This is post is about being for or against Obama. It is about the sadness of people who place hope that should only be placed in Jesus Christ in a politician. Obama is a finite and sinful man. He will not live up to any of these hopes.

I recognize that the argument can be made that this is just an ad and so is necessarily over the top rhetorically. Fair enough. But if that is that case, then I cannot but conclude that those who made it are acting in a dangerously cynical manner. That is even more disturbing.

Watch this and see what you think:

The Election from Hell

2008-08-26T06:57:00.002-05:00

John Derbyshire of National Review Online has a piece that captures my sentiments about the 2008 election.

Here's a sample:

I can’t say that I ever felt much warmth for either John McCain or Barack Obama. The first struck me as a burned-out Senate seat-warmer (term limits! oh please, term limits!) who had shown outstanding courage as a young warrior but considerable wrong-headedness as a politician — a category of persons with which history has, after all, been well supplied. Obama I have never seen as anything but a bag of wind, possessed of great political guile, but steeped in the faddy, solipsistic notions of post-1960s college leftism.

And:

I don’t want either of these men in charge of the federal government, neither the crazy old fool nor the simpering sophomore. I don’t want either the moralistic imperialism of John McCain or the welfare-state-to-the world sentimentalism of Barack Obama. I don’t want my country represented by either a Compassionate Crusader or by Oprah Winfrey in drag. (Possibly in person, too, if the rumors we’re hearing about Obama’s plans for Ms. Winfrey are true.)

I Agree With Megan McArdle

2008-08-22T12:41:00.002-05:00

Megan McArdle writes on her blog:

I am not excited about this election. I do not believe that my vote is going to immanentize the eschaton. I do not think that I am engaged in a titanic battle, in which the forces of good must beat back the cosmic evil that threatens to engulf us all. I think I'm deciding which of two politicians to hand a lot of power I don't want either of them to have.

Here here.

Christianity and Politics

2008-08-14T05:39:00.002-05:00

This post is not a mini-diatribe about the problem of contemporary Christians -- especially evangelicals -- jumping on the bandwagon of electoral politics. There is plenty of fodder for a good old fashioned snarky tirade against this problem, but that is not what I want to write about.

What I want to write about is the political nature of Christianity itself, or better, I want to say that Christianity is itself a politics. Jesus said no less just before he ascended into heaven, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

One of the most frustrating distortions in contemporary evangelical Christianity is the idea that Christ died so we can go to heaven. Christ didn't die so I can go to heaven. Christ died to conquer sin, death and the devil with the result that he would be King over all things.

(To head off comments. I do believe that if I die before Jesus returns, I will go to heaven. I am not denying heaven. I am denying it as final destination or final goal.)

When Jesus ascended he went to be at the right hand of God. The ubiquitous use of Psalm 110:1 to describe the ministry of Jesus ought to settle this:

The Lord says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”

This is a kingly Psalm. Jesus is the Lord who sits at the right hand of the Lord (that is enthronement language) and Jesus is sitting there until all his enemies (all who stand against his reign) are turned into his footstool.

Christianity is political. It is its own politics. A Christian is one who swears allegience to King Jesus. Part of what this means is that worship -- proper Christian worship in the divine liturgy -- is a political act.

The Problem of Fervor, pt. 2

2008-08-08T06:11:00.002-05:00

It's also how I believe.

Did or did not Jesus take my sin? Did or did not Jesus rise? Is he is he not seated with the Father as my advocate and intercessor? Am I or am I not baptized into Christ?

My fervor makes none of these realities more or less true. Either God tells the truth or God lies. I believe he tells the truth. Therefore, I am in Christ.

It's what God the Son has done in union with the whole Godhead that matters.

The Problem of Fervor

2008-08-07T14:11:00.002-05:00

Evangelicalism often measures sanctification/spiritual maturity/holiness by fervor.

This is wrong.

In the Bible and the majority of the Christian tradition, sanctification is measured by how I live and what I do. Do I love my wife as Christ loved the Church? Am I generous with my money? Do I love my children? Do I attend to the public worship of the Church on the Lord's day?

It's how you live.

Fixing Healthcare

2008-08-05T09:59:00.003-05:00

One of the reasons prices are high for health care is because competition is squelched and prices are not transparent. Some who advocate a government owned and run monopoly on health insurance (i.e., national health care) argue that we need to "move beyond the market because the market is not working." I beg to differ, our health care system is not market based. Government has its hands all over it and the way it is structured hides costs -- a true market is predicated on price transparency.

If pricing was transparent and patients could choose what doctor to go to based on price, competition would be introduced into the system. I would love see a kind of Google Health website that has prices for all local doctors and procedures. One could click appendectomy and find which doctors charge what and then have consumer based reviews on which doc does the best job for the price.

A model that makes catastrophic insurance universally affordable and incentivizes people to save money for incidental costs and co-pays combined with transparency and competition is the best solution.

Sigh, it won't happen, because most people want to "feel" like someone else is paying for health care even a system where that ""feeling" is spread is irrational and will continue to drive up prices and consolidate medical monopolies.

Prayers of the People: Joining Jesus in Prayer

2008-08-03T12:11:00.002-05:00

Jesus is with the Father in the heavenly sanctuary. One of the things he is doing while there is interceding on behalf of the world and the Church. In the economy of the Kingdom the primary pray-er is the risen and ascended Lord Jesus.

Every Sunday in our liturgy we say the prayers of the people. When we pray these prayers we are joining ourselves to the prayers of Jesus. The kinds of things we pray about are the kinds of things (in fact some of the very things) Jesus is praying to the Father.

When we pray the prayers of the people we pray IN CHRIST. We are carrying out our priestly role as God's people (which is a share in Christ's high priestly role) by lifting to the Father the needs of the world and the church.

When we pray the prayers of the people we are doing serious and central Kingdom business. We stand with Jesus and all the saints in heaven and on earth offering the world to the Father that his Kingdom might break into it more and more.

What a great privilege!

Politics and Epistemology or Pick a Party and Vote

2008-08-02T11:33:00.002-05:00

I have to admit, I can't relate to folks who spend a lot of time pondering who the best man for the job is when it comes to presidential politics. The reason is that it seems to me that it is impossible to know who the best man for the job is (or woman). Take Obama and McCain -- how can I really know who they are and what they believe?

Should I look at their voting records? Sorry, but that isn't always helpful because there are usually many reasons for a vote on a particular bill -- and often it is about log rolling to get something one wants put in the bill.

Should I look at their platforms? That can be helpful, but both Obama and McCain have moved away from their original platforms?

My answer is to pick a party and vote for it. Why? Because in a republic shaped by a two party system a politician never acts alone, even the president. They have to work with other politicians and they primarily work with politicians in their own party.

When you pick a party you should not look at the details of the platform. That really doesn't matter. You should look at the general trajectory of the party and vote for it. If you generally like the trajectory of the republicans vote republican. If you generally like the trajectory of the democrats vote democratic. This is part of the reason parties exist. The individual voter cannot psycho-analyze candidates and now what they will do as president. Parties have sets of values. Parties attract people to their fold who fit in the party's tent and the party vets the candidate.

So my counsel is pick a party and vote for it. You will save yourself time and energy. And in my view it is a more rational way to deal with the process.

The Anglican Communion and the End of Colonialism

2008-07-31T08:54:00.002-05:00

One always tells a story from a particular perspective. This is an inevitable consequence of being finite.

The accounts of the troubles of the Anglican Communion as told by the western press understandably tell the story from a western perspective. What gets lost is a key element in the way the global south Anglicans understand the problems in the AC. Global South Anglicans see the present problems rooted in vestiges of colonialism.

Thirty-Eight equal provinces (national churches) make up the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury is one primate among thirty-eight. He has organizational and symbolic authority (and those are not simply pefunctory things). Cantuar is not the pope. He is the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. He is appointed by Queen and Parliament. None of the other primates have a role in deciding who the Archbishop of Canterbury is. He is imposed upon them by the British Government.

Can you see why they feel like the current structures and the current problems are vestiges of colonialism? An Archbishop imposed by the British Government? How long did they live with all kinds of things imposed upon them by the British government?

To the global south Anglicans the problems in the AC were dealt with when the Primates met together in agreement in 2005. Yet, they have witnessed the Abp. Canterbury taking their decision and implanting in communion instruments centered in Canterbury and as a result have wtinessed the emasculation of their will to bring proper discipline to the errant churches of the Anglican Communion.

To the global south this is colonialism. We in the west don't see it -- it is off our radar screen.

The Liturgy as Epiphany

2008-07-30T06:19:00.002-05:00

The whole liturgy of Holy Eucharist -- both Word and Table -- is an epiphany. Each of the actions, the prayers, the scriptures, the bread, the wine, etc. is sign offered to the Holy Spirit to manifest the Kingdom of God and to unveil the reality of what is happening in heaven.

Right now, this moment, Jesus is in heaven in the true sanctuary/tabernacle offering himself to the Father with all the saints of God who have gone to be with him in triumph. That liturgy is the true and full liturgy. Our liturgy is a shadowed means by which the Holy Spirit draws us into the heavenly liturgy -- where the Kingdom of God exists in its fullest reality.

The liturgy is where heaven and earth meet until the day that there is a new heaven and a new earth and the glory we now see dimly --as an epiphany -- will fill and infuse all of creation and we will no longer see through a glass darkly.

Small is Beautiful

2008-07-29T09:16:00.002-05:00

I am a strong advocate of a smaller and more limited Federal government. This is not because I am a libertarian who believes in self-ownership and personal autonomy. I am a communitarian rooted in the tradition of Catholic social teaching. However, community is a meaningful concept only when it is envisioned and implemented on a human scale. The fashion of speaking of large interest groups as communities -- e.g., the international arts community -- is, to my mind, an utterly meaningless and somewhat Orwellian way to use the word community.

I believe deeply in both community and order. The vision I embrace is of a multiplicity of communities each with their own telos and sphere. Government is good -- contra libertarians. But government should be limited -- contra statist progressives.

All of this is rooted in the idea of subsidiarity. This is the idea that all communal endeavors ought to take place at the smallest communal structures first before it moves up to larger structures. The purpose of this principle is to preserve human persons as bearers of God's image.

An example is how social welfare is implemented. That which is local, independent and relational ought to the central means by which welfare is implemented. Other large institutions -- such as government -- should step in where the smaller contexts are inadequate and rather than usurp these contexts should seek to foster them.

Small is beautiful.

A Note on the Word Epiphany

2008-07-29T06:11:00.002-05:00

In common parlance an epiphany is an aha moment -- a sudden, intuitive realization about something. That meaning is not unrelated to the meaning of epiphany in a Christian setting. Of course, those who follow the Christian calendar know of the Feast of Epiphany. Usually this marks the coming of the magi to see Jesus marking the "manifestation" of Jesus to the nations.

Manifestation is a good synonym of the Christian use of epiphany. An epiphany is a kind of unveiling or opening into a deeper reality. One image that helps me is drawn from Thomas Howard's book Evangelical is Not Enough. It is the image of a scrim. A scrim is a shear piece of cloth, often used on a stage to cover action so that it has a shadowy expression rather than the clear showing that happens when the performers are out in the lights. An epiphany is a manifestation but it is a manifestation from behind a scrim. It unveils a deeper reality, but until that reality comes fully into the light we see it in a shadowy manner.

Replay -- Sacraments are Epiphanies

2008-07-28T19:16:00.000-05:00

One of the things that trips people up about the sacraments is when they are thought of in cause and effect terms. Take baptism. The Bible says, "Baptism now saves you" (1 Peter 3:21 ). If one is thinking in cause and effect terms, then this would mean that Baptism causes one to be saved.

But what if baptism is an epiphany?

Here are some other words that get what I am trying to put across: sign, portal, unveiling, window, manifestation. What if Baptism is a manifestation of Christ who offered himself to the Father and makes possible our sharing in his offering through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit? Doesn't that change the calculus? Now the issue becomes not whether water magically saves you. The issue becomes whether or not the Holy Spirit acts in the water to manifest/set forth/unveil/make a portal for -- the death and resurrection of Christ that we might live into that by faith.

A sacrament is more than a bare sign that makes me remember something. A sacrament is more than a badge of my profession. But it is not magic. It is revelation. It is manifestation. It is epiphany. It is reality.

It is more real than we can imagine.

3 Reasons to Pray the Daily Office

2008-07-28T05:27:00.002-05:00

The Daily Office combines set prayers, the praying of Psalms and reading of scripture into a daily pattern of prayer. For a number of years I have been following this approach as a method of personal prayer. In the last month I have been praying the Office with my wife. This has been a terrific develop in both of our prayer lives by the way.

Here are three reasons to pray the Daily Office:

1. It's Historic. For most of Christian history all of the church has prayed this way and for all of Christian history most to the church has prayed this way. The Daily Office is rooted in the first century Jewish synagogue tradition. If one prays the Daily Office, one will pray in a manner similar to the way Jesus prayed.

2. It's Easy. One of the most difficult aspects of a regular prayer life is simply doing it. The Daily Office is easy to follow and easy to do. It is especially easy when done in a group setting. This adds a measure of accountability to the practice.

3. It's Sound. Praying the Psalms and praying set prayers written throughout the centuries of Church history makes sure my praying is sound doctrinally and not subject to the whims of my momentary feelings. This is not to say that extemporaneous prayer is bad or unimportant -- in fact the version of the Daily Office my wife and I use includes space for this kind of praying and we fill it in with extemporaneous prayers for friends, family, church etc. But the extemporaneous prayers are rooted in solid biblical prayers. As an example, every morning we pray the Prayer of Mary from the gospel of Luke. This prayer praises God by remembering his great acts of salvation in Israel that have come to fruition in Mary's life. By praying this prayer we remember central biblical themes before the Lord in an act of worship.

Does anyone have any other reasons to add to this list?

Crunchy Con

2008-07-22T07:04:00.003-05:00

Rod Dreher of Crunchy Con fame interviewed in GodSpy.

GODSPY: Rod, if you had to reduce Crunchy Conservatism to a few sound bites, what would you say?

ROD DREHER: I'd say that Crunchy Conservatism is nothing new. It's a rediscovery of the kind of traditionalism espoused by Russell Kirk and Richard Weaver and others in the 1940s and 1950s. It's a conservatism that values religion, family, and culture more than individual freedom and the free market. I'd also say it finds the overemphasis on individual freedom and economic liberty in contemporary conservatism inimical to much that we conservatives claim to treasure.

In terms of sound bites, I'd turn to the Crunchy Conservative manifesto on the back cover of the book: The institution most essential to conserve is the family. Beauty is more important than efficiency. Small, local, old and particular are almost always better than big, global, new and abstract. I'd also add that we've gotten to a point in our politics today where the left and the right are too quick to slap a negative label on a challenging or unfamiliar idea, so they don't have to deal with it. For too many of us on the right, calling something liberal and making fun of it is a way of avoiding having to question our own prejudices.

McArdle on Symbol

2008-07-22T06:33:00.001-05:00

Megan McArdle on the importance of symbol (and she is a Randian libertarian!).

I'm also completely flummoxed by the people saying a consecrated host is JUST A CRACKER, so why is everyone getting all upset?

Would it be okay if I spraypainted obscenities on your mother's grave because it's just a piece of highly compressed igneous rock with some lines chiseled into it? How about if I photoshop your a photo of your now-grown child onto a piece of child porn, because after all, no one's actually hurt by this--it's just a piece of paper.

Soaking the Rich

2008-07-22T06:23:00.002-05:00

One of the myths surrounding the Bush tax cuts is that because of them the rich pay less in income taxes. But that is not true. They pay lower TAX RATES not lower taxes. Actually as tax rates were lowered the rich paid more in taxes. Check out this chart.

If you are confused why this happened (and it happened under Reagan as well) then take Economics 101 again.

Populist ideology says the rich are getting away with murder, but hey, ideology has never been known to be moved by facts. I'm jujst sayin'.

Bp. Howe on the first day of Lambeth

2008-07-21T19:44:00.003-05:00

Excerpt from Bishop Howe's letter to his clergy regarding the first day of Lambeth:

But the process was asinine. First of all, why combine five Bible Study groups, if you are then going to sub-divide them into four groups? Secondly, what is the point of this discussion of a document we are seeing for the first time? It seemed more appropriate to a junior high Confirmation Class than to a world-wide gathering of Anglican Bishops. And thirdly, why in the world were we having these conversations in the same room at the same time? (At a cost of approximately $8 million just for the Bishops' part of the Conference!)

I can't believe all this money is spent for Bishops to go to England and experience the equivilant of Group sunday school curriculum -- what is this, episcopal VBS? Jeesh!

Heresy and Schism

2008-07-21T09:18:00.002-05:00

One of the tactics of revisionists in the TEC and ghe Anglican Communion is to argue that schism is worse than heresy because schism tears the body of Christ.

Uh, excuse me, but heresy is a schismatic act. The heretic who embraces a view that is separate from the whole is schismatic. One who espouses an idiosyncratic view and teaches/practices it as a public and authorized view/practice of the church is not being catholic. To undermine catholicity is rent asunder the boy of Christ.

Can we please keep things straight!!

Catholic Social Teaching and Genesis 1

2008-07-18T17:38:00.004-05:00

Catholic Social Teaching begins with the idea that the human person is the end (telos) and purpose of every social organization. This is rooted in the teaching of Genesis 1:26-28:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Creation is a gift to man given to realize the full flourishing of human life under the loving reign of the Triune God. Hence, government and society as a species of the mandate to fill and subdue the earth, exist to realize a just expression of the common good that enables all people to realize their humanity as created by God.

Three Days and Counting

2008-07-08T06:28:00.002-05:00

July 11 is the day the Church commemorates the life of Saint Benedict of Nursia -- the father of western monasticism. His ethos of an ordered, sustainable and corporate way of Christian discipleship has benefited many Christians. Notably, the Benedictine way has shaped Anglicanism especially in its manner of prayer book worship centered in daily office and weekly eucharist.

What's Right and What's Wrong with Post-Modernism

2008-07-03T08:57:00.002-05:00

First, two caveats:
1. Post-modernism is not one thing. Since this is a blog post I will of necessity be simplifying things.
2. By post-modernism I am not referring to post-modernity as a cultural reality, but post-modernism as an intellectual stance/approach. The two are related yet they are distinct.

What's good about post-modernism is its deconstruction of the modern/enlightenment project. It critiques the modern notion that humanity can restore/discover its true self in history. In space and time humanity can restore human reason, nature, the authentic self, and the true economy (rationalism, empiricism, romanticism and Marxism/capitalism respectively.). The modern project is a kind of secular eschatology. Post-modernism rightly critiques and seeks to undermine this hubris. Christians ought to applaud this and join in. We believe deeply in human sin and ought to reject out right any human eschatologies.

What's wrong with post-modernism, at least from the Christian perspective, is its rejection of any eschatology. Christianity is rejected as another meta-narrative used to control people.

Now, one must remember that many of the post-modern thinkers arose in the shadow of Hitler and Stalin, both preachers of a secular eschatology that led to millions (6 million and 32 million respectively) killed in cold blood. Those two and others like them used their meta-narrative as a means of asserting and achieving the will to power.

Post-modernists are right for deconstructing and running from these things. However, the Christian must be careful here. We do believe in eschatology. In fact, our faith is at heart eschatology. We do believe in a restoration of true humanity, etc., only we confess our faith that this will finally and fully happen outside of history - at the eschaton. Though we can join forces with the post-modernist in rejecting the hubris of modernity, we must exercise discretion and not reject the eschatological nature of our own world-view.

GAFCON: A Post Christendom/Post Colonial Anglican Communion?

2008-07-02T05:48:00.003-05:00

I wonder if one way to interpret GAFCON is that it is a marker along the way of a post-Christendom and post-colonial version of the Anglican Communion. Post-Christendom in that it is post-modern, i.e., no longer needing the communion to be a top down, unified structure centered in a state church (i.e., The Church of England). Post-Colonial in that while vestiges of British/Western Colonialism have stuck around in the Anglican Communion, the Global South Churches have now come of age and will not allow Western powers and structures force them to embrace something they do not believe in. They see themselves as equal partners and intend to act in that manner.

These are thoughts, not conclusions.

The Vocation of Pastor

2008-07-01T06:27:00.000-05:00

Reformed Theologian and Pastor Michael Horton writes an excellent piece on the vocation of pastor:

It used to be that the pastor had an office and worked in his study, but today the pastor has a job and works in his office. Whereas Peter organized the diaconal office so that the apostles could devote themselves to the Word and to prayer, ideal ministers seem increasingly to be managers, therapists, entertainers, and entrepreneurial businesspeople.

Open up the average issue of Christianity Today to advertisements for pastoral positions and you’ll find descriptions like “team builder,” “warm and personal style,” “outgoing,” “contagious personality,” and “effective communicator.” (Catholic friends tell me that something like this affects Catholicism, too.)

I think they’re looking for a Director of Sales and Marketing, whom they may (or may not) call “Pastor.” I’m not against directors of sales and marketing; I just don’t think that this is what we should be looking for in the way of shepherds.

GAFCON Communique

2008-06-30T08:55:00.002-05:00

The GAFCON Communique (The Jerusalem Declaration) has been released and I feel very positive after my first read. I will digest more slowly later in the week.

UPDATE: Bishop Iker of Fort Worth - An Anglo Catholic endoreses GAFCON.

The money quote for me is:

We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, are a fellowship of confessing Anglicans for the benefit of the Church and the furtherance of its mission. We are a fellowship of people united in the communion (koinonia) of the one Spirit and committed to work and pray together in the common mission of Christ. It is a confessing fellowship in that its members confess the faith of Christ crucified, stand firm for the gospel in the global and Anglican context, and affirm a contemporary rule, the Jerusalem Declaration, to guide the movement for the future. We are a fellowship of Anglicans, including provinces, dioceses, churches, missionary jurisdictions, para-church organisations and individual Anglican Christians whose goal is to reform, heal and revitalise the Anglican Communion and expand its mission to the world.

Our fellowship is not breaking away from the Anglican Communion. We, together with many other faithful Anglicans throughout the world, believe the doctrinal foundation of Anglicanism, which defines our core identity as Anglicans, is expressed in these words: The doctrine of the Church is grounded in the Holy Scriptures and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular, such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordinal. We intend to remain faithful to this standard, and we call on others in the Communion to reaffirm and return to it. While acknowledging the nature of Canterbury as an historic see, we do not accept that Anglican identity is determined necessarily through recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Building on the above doctrinal foundation of Anglican identity, we hereby publish the Jerusalem Declaration as the basis of our fellowship.

Read it all.

A New Kind of Bio-Fuel

2008-06-26T10:38:00.002-05:00

Has anyone else heard about this? Sounds fascinating and promising.

The key to the next generation of biofuels isn't growing in a field; it's mutating in a lab. By swapping natural genes in yeast and bacteria for synthetic ones, scientists have tricked the microbes into producing hydrocarbons—creating, in essence, billions of tiny refineries to turn simple sugars into environmentally friendly diesel, gasoline, jet fuel and biocrude.

We've been making a lot of things using micro-organisms for a long time," says Jim McMillan, biorefining process R&D manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). "The real breakthrough here, I think, is recognizing that you can get these microbial factories to produce these very high-energy fuel molecules, like hydrocarbons."

Politics as Religion

2008-06-26T07:45:00.002-05:00

I simply don't resonate with people who see their politics as religion. No one (or virtually no one) would admit they treat their politics like their religous creed, but many do just that. It goes on in both major U.S. parties, although this election cycle the stronger manifestation of this surrounds Obama.

We elect politicians. I am neither cynical nor rosy-eyed about them. For the most part politicians are decent minded people who want to do good. I find it highly distasteful and uncivil when it is assumed that one is morally suspect by simply holding to different views on what are complex and ever changing policy matters.

As Christians -- whether right leaning or left leaning -- we need to resist this impulse to invest religious sentiments and passions in political candidates. There is one messiah and his name is not John McCain or Barack Obama. I think Christians have decided their vote on this when they were baptized.

Now I am not an anabaptist or a Christian anarchist so I do not have a problem with Christians who value voting or being involved in politics. I recognize there are real life stakes in these issues. But I think one needs to recognize most politicians are neither as wonderful as their supporters believe or as horrid as their detractors claim. They are people. People pursuing their ambitions, doing the best they can, living the same insecurities we all live. Support, vote, campaign for - yes. But the desire to invest religous sentiments and hope in them should be resisted -- especially by subjects of King Jesus.

Jumping the Gun

2008-06-21T11:56:00.002-05:00

Isn't this a little, like, uh, jumping the gun? I'm just sayin'.....

UPDATE: The Obama campaign dropped the seal after a weekend of criticism.

Peggy Noonan on Tim Russert: A Must Read

2008-06-20T17:50:00.001-05:00

Peggy Noonan's WSJ column about Tim Russert is a must read.

Excerpt:

After Tim's death, the entire television media for four days told you the keys to a life well lived, the things you actually need to live life well, and without which it won't be good. Among them: taking care of those you love and letting them know they're loved, which involves self-sacrifice; holding firm to God, to your religious faith, no matter how high you rise or low you fall. This involves guts, and self-discipline, and active attention to developing and refining a conscience to whose promptings you can respond. Honoring your calling or profession by trying to do within it honorable work, which takes hard effort, and a willingness to master the ethics of your field. And enjoying life. This can be hard in America, where sometimes people are rather grim in their determination to get and to have. "Enjoy life, it's ungrateful not to," said Ronald Reagan.

I'll Take That Any Day!

2008-06-20T08:11:00.003-05:00

Shelby (my 3 year old daughter -- with a serious look and tone): "Daddy, I have something to tell you."
Me: What do you want to tell me
Shelby: I love you daddy!

What can I say. Moments like that are vastly more important than who wins the presidential race in November, whether the Celtics or Lakers won the championship or what is on World News Tonight.

Thanks Shelby.

"It's a town full of losers; I'm pullin' out of here to win" or The Greatest Rock Song of All Time

2008-06-19T11:19:00.002-05:00

This is the greatest rock song of all time and anyone who says different is completely wrong.

Luke Russert Eulogizies His Dad/The Boss Sings for Him: Very, Very Inspiring

2008-06-19T08:20:00.000-05:00

Who I Want to Vote For

2008-06-18T09:42:00.003-05:00

This is who I would like to vote for for president. Unfortunately he is German and he is dead! (He is Conrad Adenauer BTW.)

UPDATE:
Wikipedia on Adenauer

Wikipedia on Christian Democracy

May I Have Another Choice...Please?!?

2008-06-18T06:14:00.005-05:00

File under wishful thinking. Sigh.

Update -- HT to James

George Will Critiquing McCain on the Gitmo Decision

2008-06-17T11:23:00.002-05:00

George Will writes a critique of McCain's response to the recent Gitmo decision handed down by the Supreme Court.

Excerpt:

McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold law that abridges the right of free political speech, has referred disparagingly to, as he puts it, "quote 'First Amendment rights.' " Now he dismissively speaks of "so-called, quote 'habeas corpus suits.' " He who wants to reassure constitutionalist conservatives that he understands the importance of limited government should be reminded why the habeas right has long been known as "the great writ of liberty."

No state power is more fearsome than the power to imprison. Hence the habeas right has been at the heart of the centuries-long struggle to constrain governments, a struggle in which the greatest event was the writing of America's Constitution, which limits Congress's power to revoke habeas corpus to periods of rebellion or invasion. Is it, as McCain suggests, indefensible to conclude that Congress exceeded its authority when, with the Military Commissions Act (2006), it withdrew any federal court jurisdiction over the detainees' habeas claims?

As the conservative and libertarian Cato Institute argued in its amicus brief in support of the petitioning detainees, habeas, in the context of U.S. constitutional law, "is a separation of powers principle" involving the judicial and executive branches. The latter cannot be the only judge of its own judgment.

Great Father's Day Speech from Barak Obama

2008-06-15T19:45:00.002-05:00

Barak Obama gave an inspiring and challenging speech about Fatherhod this weekend.

“But we also need families to raise our children,” he said. “We need fathers to realize that responsibility doesn’t just end at conception. That doesn’t just make you a father. What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.”

Amen.

When the Levee Breaks

2008-06-15T09:37:00.003-05:00

Flooding is happening in Central Iowa -- my birthplace. This picture shows downtown Des Moines after the levees there burst. I am from Ames, thirty miles straight north on I-35. I am told flooding is happening in Ames on tributaries of the Des Moines River.

I was in Iowa during the 1993 floods on the Mississippi. Although I lived in Ames which is on a tributary of a tributary of the Mississippi eventually the floods hit our town. My parents house had four feet of water in the basement and my basement was flooded. Thankfully the basic structures of our homes were intact and all we needed was clean-up.

My heart goes out to the Iowans suffering through these floods. I must say that I am glad I now live in central Kentucky far away from these floods!

Another Favorite Painting

2008-06-12T09:38:00.003-05:00

I am a Van Gogh fan. The best way to view his work is up close in a museum. There is a texture and dynamism to his work that you can almost taste and feel.

The Starry Night is one of my Van Gogh favorites. It moves me. I must admit that I am not sure if it is just the painting itself that moves me or if it is its association with the Don McLean song "Vincent" (which is a very touching song).

One of My Favorite Paintings

2008-06-10T20:44:00.005-05:00

Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth

UPDATE: I used to think Christina was sitting out in the field looking at her small world and longing for something new/different/larger. Actually, she cannot use her legs and scoots wherever she goes. Christina was a real young woman that Wyeth knew and decided make a subject of a painting.

Looking back, my interpretation was certainly a projection of my own longing to move from the small town I grew up in and experience a larger world than I knew at the time. Art is so evocative!

GTD

2008-06-10T11:39:00.003-05:00

I have been reading David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) again. I have found this to be one of the most helpful books for giving practical help in getting organized to, well, get things done! I am fairly right brained. On the Myers-Briggs I am an INTP with very strong perceiving traits. Shorthand? I do well at creative, visionary thinking and passing on the fruit of that to others, but I am weak at getting small, detailed projects done. However, just living means I have to get things done. So, GTD has been a great help. GTD also has a useful website as well as its own Wikipedia entry.

A Unique Iowa Sandwich

2008-06-09T20:29:00.004-05:00

Growing up in Iowa, one place we would often eat at is Maid-Rite. Once upon a time, Maid-Rite was found only in Iowa. Now it is spreading around the country. A Maid-Rite is a loose meat sandwich made of high grade spiced ground beef. It is NOT a sloppy joe. I hope one comes to Kentucky -- there is nothing like it!! Yum!!!!

How Best to Address Energy Problem

2008-06-09T09:09:00.003-05:00

Columnist Charles Krauthammer on how best to address energy problems.

So now we know: The price point is $4.

At $3 a gallon, Americans just grin and bear it, suck it up, and, while complaining profusely, keep driving like crazy. At $4, it is a world transformed. Americans become rational creatures. Mass transit ridership is at a 50-year high. Driving is down 4 percent. (Any U.S. decline is something close to a miracle.) Hybrids and compacts are flying off the lots. SUV sales are in free fall.

The wholesale flight from gas guzzlers is stunning in its swiftness, but utterly predictable. Everything has a price point. Remember that “love affair” with SUVs? Love, it seems, has its price too.

Playing a Rick

2008-06-08T09:24:00.004-05:00

I love the sound of the Rickenbacker electric 12 string made popular by Roger McGuinn, George Harrison and Tom Petty. A friend let me borrow one to play this week. Pure pleasure.

I am playing the 620/12 (pictured above). If you are a Tom Petty fan you recognize it as the guitar he is holding on the cover of "Damn the Torpedoes."

Great guitar with a great sound.

My Favorite Beer

2008-06-07T14:01:00.003-05:00

My favorite beer is Fat Tire Amber Ale produced by New Belgium Brewery. However, you can't get it in these parts (Kentucky). Ugh.

Any other Fat Tire fans out there?

Time to Slow Down

2008-06-07T11:41:00.000-05:00

Interesting article from CNN about the slow movement.

Edgar S. Cahn is fighting for your right to be lazy.

The slow movement backs random acts of slowness, such as turning off the BlackBerry or spending time with friends.

Other activists might devote their time to reversing global warming or saving the whales. But the 73-year-old attorney is battling to preserve a commodity that he says is more fragile than the environment and more precious than oil -- time.

Cahn is a leader in the "slow movement," a national campaign that claims that speed kills. Its leaders say that Americans are so starved for time, our need for speed is destroying our health, families and communities.

The Nanny State

2008-06-05T11:52:00.002-05:00

It may be true that the nanny state wants to hug you. But that doesn't mean it's not tyrannical -- especially if you don't want to be hugged.

Wine To Gladden the Heart and Lengthen the Life!

2008-06-05T07:36:00.003-05:00

Evidence is mounting that wine increases longevity. It's not conclusive, but I say -- WHY TAKE CHANCES!!

Out of Africa

2008-06-02T10:31:00.012-05:00

I am back in the U.S.A. now. The trip to Africa with Kyle S. was excellent, eye-opening and joy-filled. Now comes the hard of discerning how we are to partner with Kibungo Diocese. Keep me and Saint Patrick's Church in your prayers as we work on this.

I'm Off to Rwanda

2008-05-22T11:00:00.004-05:00

In 3 hours I take off from Bluegrass Airport for Kibungo, Rwanda (see map). Kyle Schroeder and I are traveling there on a scouting trip to learn how Saint Patrick's Church can partner with the Kibungo Diocese in mission. If you think of us pray for our trip that we will have wisdom and insight regarding how our church can partner with Kibungo, that we will stay healthy and that we will return safe and sound to our families. Thanks!!

Joe Lieberman on the Democratic Party

2008-05-21T14:27:00.004-05:00

In today's Wall Street Journal Senator Joe Lieberman writes,

How did the Democratic Party get here? How did the party of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy drift so far from the foreign policy and national security principles and policies that were at the core of its identity and its purpose?

Beginning in the 1940s, the Democratic Party was forced to confront two of the most dangerous enemies our nation has ever faced: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. In response, Democrats under Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy forged and conducted a foreign policy that was principled, internationalist, strong and successful.

A Univeral Health Plan I Can Get Behind

2008-05-20T10:15:00.003-05:00

Finally a universal health care plan I can get excited about -- Healthcare Guaranteed.

The Guaranteed HealthCare Access Plan permits the bearer of a healthcare certificate to exchange it for a defined standard health plan from a participating health insurance company or healthcare provider organization. The Guaranteed HealthCare plan is funded by the Federal government which issues healthcare certificates annually. Every American is eligible to receive a healthcare certificate regardless of age, employment or health status. A participating health plan must agree to accept a certificate in exchange for a standard health plan, as defined by the Federal government, regardless of the health status, pre-existing conditions, age, etc. of the applicant.

Check it out here.

Obama and Special Interests

2008-05-20T09:26:00.003-05:00

One refrain in Obama's campaign is the need to take on Washington politics and the reign of special interests. I like that. However, I have a question. If that is Obama wants to do, why did he vote for the Farm Bill? Let's see. Farmers are having record profits and, as everyone knows, subsidies do not go to small farmers but to the big agribusiness concerns. In other words, the Farm Bill is corporate welfare if there ever was and a bill to please special interests if there ever was ... and Barack voted for it.

I'm just sayin'...

UPDATE:
Oh, BTW, I know why Obama voted this way -- he wants to win Iowa in the fall and you can't win Iowa without paying off the farmers. I know, I grew up in Iowa.

Obama's "New" Politics

2008-05-20T09:04:00.002-05:00

Barack Obama is probably the most talented and shrewd candidate for president this election. His most shrewd move, IMO, is his rhetoric about transcending the old politics. This is a master-stroke of shrewd and pragmatic political tactics. By positioning himself this way, Obama can avoid criticism from other candidates by responding that his opponent is going negative and playing by the old-style politics which he will not stoop to. Brilliant!! The guy can shut down any real debate and present himself as noble and statesmanlike. You gotta love his "new" politics!

The Hillary - Crats are the Key

2008-05-19T13:45:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow is the primary in Kentucky. It's the first time in a long time a primary in Kentucky has had any effect on a nomination battle. It looks like it will be another West Virginia and Hillary will win big.

This leads to the point of this post. My arm-chair political analyst assessment of the fall election is that the winner will be the one who gets the Hillary-Crats. White, working/middle class, union, male, patriotic, regular-joe voters. These are the folks who have often been called Reagan democrats - although they swung strongly to Bill Clinton in the 90's.

If Obama can convince them that he is not an elitist, left-wing snob, he will pull it off. If McCain can convince them he is not a big-business, pro-amnesty republican, he will pull it off. The question, of course, is if either one of them pull that off. If the Hillary-Crats stay home I put big money on seeing President Obama give the inauguration speech on January 20.

Soooo ... my take is that the Hillary-Crats are the swing voters this election and what they do after she drops out (she will of course -- maybe later this week) will determine the outcome of the fall election.

Any other armchair analysts out there?

Another Great President

2008-05-18T21:15:00.002-05:00

Another Great President -- Grover Cleveland. Who will be the next Grover Cleveland?

The Coolidge Shrine

2008-05-16T20:01:00.004-05:00

Here's Calvin. C'mon, admit it -- there is greatness in that face!! Don't you want to pay homage?

Thoughts from David Stove or Why I Long for Calvin Coolidge.

2008-05-16T19:55:00.003-05:00

Australian philosopher David Stove captures why I long for Calvin Coolidge:

A primitive society is being devastated by a disease, so you bring modern medicine to bear, and wipe out the disease, only to find that by doing so you have brought on a population explosion. You introduce contraception to control population, and find that you have dismantled a whole culture. At home you legislate to relieve the distress of unmarried mothers, and find you have given a cash incentive to the production of illegitimate children. You guarantee a minimum wage, and find that you have extinguished, not only specific industries, but industry itself as a personal trait. You enable everyone to travel, and one result is, that there is nowhere left worth travelling to. And so on.

This is the oldest and the best argument for conservatism: the argument from the fact that our actions almost always have unforeseen and unwelcome consequences. It is an argument from so great and so mournful a fund of experience, that nothing can rationally outweigh it. Yet somehow, at any rate in societies like ours, this argument never is given its due weight. When what is called a “reform” proves to be, yet again, a cure worse than the disease, the assumption is always that what is needed is still more, and still more drastic, “reform.”

Where's Calvin Coolidge when you need him?

2008-05-16T13:39:00.002-05:00

Why do American's love activist presidents? We are finishing up 8 years with Bush whose activism has given him 20% approval rating. Now our likely candidates are Obama and McCain -- both of whom, albeit from different idealogical vantage points, envision a great and active America with them at the helm.

What happened to the negative version of the golden rule -- to not do unto others as they would not do unto you. In politics and governing a lot of bad happens under the guise of trying to do a lot of good. Most of the time it is better to just not do anything bad and keep things running efficiently. Then the rest of us can go about living life the way we see fit.

As Calvin Coolidge once said, "Four-fifths of all our troubles would disappear, if we would only sit down and keep still."

Calvin -- where are you??

The Problem with Statism

2008-05-15T06:55:00.002-05:00

The problem with statism is that it envisions a role for the state that causes the state to subsume the proper functions of other God ordained spheres of society. In its most egregious form -- totalitarianism -- the state becomes the central arbiter of meaning and identity in a society. (Both Fascism and Communism do this.) In lesser forms such as progressive liberalism and the social democratic models of Europe, the state is seen as the means to achieve many ends that should carried out by other institutions -- such as family and church.

The answer is Catholic Social Teaching.

Beach Vacation 2

2008-05-13T06:45:00.002-05:00

Beach Vacation 1

2008-05-10T08:07:00.005-05:00

Pics from the Outer Banks of NC

It's the "Shire" Stupid!

2008-05-09T08:04:00.003-05:00

Politics in the U.S. -- and much of western Europe -- has been a riposte between those who emphasize the rights of the individual and those who emphasize the benefits of the state. Two actors -- individual and state. Everyone knows reality is more complex than this, but the rhetoric swings between these two poles.

But what about society? What about those communal realities that shape how people actually live: one's parish, the local school, one's relationship to a grocer, the folkways of my town -- you get the picture. What I mean are the kinds of things captured in J.R.R. Tolkien's image of the shire -- the place inhabited by hobbits -- their hearth, their home, in other words -- their space for human fraternity.

I write all this as a lead up to a recommendation that you read David Brooks' recent opinion piece in the NY Times. Brooks is writing about shifts in the rhetoric and policy of the British Conservative Party that want to place emphasis on the development of "society" rather than the state or the individual.

Brooks writes:

That means, first, moving beyond the Thatcherite tendency to put economics first. As Oliver Letwin, one of the leading Tory strategists put it: “Politics, once econo-centric, must now become socio-centric.” David Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, makes it clear that his primary focus is sociological. Last year he declared: “The great challenge of the 1970s and 1980s was economic revival. The great challenge in this decade and the next is social revival.” In another speech, he argued: “We used to stand for the individual. We still do. But individual freedoms count for little if society is disintegrating. Now we stand for the family, for the neighborhood — in a word, for society.”

This has led to a lot of talk about community, relationships, civic engagement and social responsibility. Danny Kruger, a special adviser to Cameron, wrote a much-discussed pamphlet, “On Fraternity.” These conservatives are not trying to improve the souls of citizens. They’re trying to use government to foster dense social bonds.

They want voters to think of the Tories as the party of society while Labor is the party of the state. They want the country to see the Tories as the party of decentralized organic networks and the Laborites as the party of top-down mechanistic control.

As such, the Conservative Party has spent a lot of time thinking about how government should connect with citizens. Basically, everything should be smaller, decentralized and interactive. They want a greater variety of schools, with local and parental control. They want to reverse the trend toward big central hospitals. Health care, Cameron says, is as much about regular long-term care as major surgery, and patients should have the power to construct relationships with caretakers, pharmacists and local facilities.

Read the rest here.

David Brooks on the Demograpy Divide in the Democratic Party

2008-05-04T06:01:00.003-05:00

David Brooks of the NY Times has penned an insightful article on the demographic divide in the democratic party. He writes:

In state after state (Wisconsin being the outlier), Barack Obama has won densely populated, well-educated areas. Hillary Clinton has won less-populated, less-educated areas. For example, Obama has won roughly 70 percent of the most-educated counties in the primary states. Clinton has won 90 percent of the least-educated counties. In state after state, Obama has won a few urban and inner-ring suburban counties. Clinton has won nearly everywhere else.

This social divide has overshadowed regional differences. Sixty-year-old, working-class Catholics vote the same, whether they live in Fresno, Scranton, Nashua or Orlando.

The divide has even overshadowed campaigning. Surely the most interesting feature of the Democratic race is how unimportant political events are. The candidates can spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising, but they are not able to sway their opponent’s voters to their side. They can win a stunning victory, but the momentum doesn’t carry over from state to state. They can make horrific gaffes, deliver brilliant speeches, turn in good or bad debate performances, but these things do not alter the race.

In Pennsylvania, Obama did everything conceivable to win over Clinton’s working-class voters. The effort was a failure. The great uniter failed to unite. In this election, persuasion isn’t important. Social identity is everything. Demography is king.

Read the rest here.

Nation-States, Balancing Power, Clausewitz and Just War

2008-04-29T07:05:00.004-05:00

The current-world system is made up of nation-states. There is no worldwide sovereign power. Hence, the world stage is anarchic. In an anarchic situation, comprehensive sovereignty is non-existent. The only way to bring order is for balance(s) of power to achieved by individual players and/or blocs of powers. For nation-states, balancing power is essentially a political act. Thus the famed war theorist Clausewitz said, "War is politics by other means."

When Christians do just war thinking, many treat just war thinking as abstract theory that is then applied in an almost ideological manner to the world stage. I think this is wrong. The proper way to apply just war theory is to start with the world-stage as it is and then apply just war theory. One should look at the world-stage, assess what end needs to be achieved to bring order and stability and then reflect on how to achieve that end justly. Since the world-stage is anarchic, balance of power is a proper end because it contributes to temporal order/peace -- the good that just war theorists have often argued is a central goal of just war-making.

A war to balance power and bring stability to the world-stage or to a major region of the world can be a just war -- if the imbalance of power brings disorder, instability and destructive consequences to people's lives.

Mickey Kaus on Obama's "Snobbery"

2008-04-21T07:43:00.002-05:00

Mickey Kaus of Slate writes:

Help! I'm A Snob Like Obama! Greg Mitchell ridicules Bill Kristol for insinuating that Barack Obama was a Marxist for saying that residents of economically depressed small towns "cling to guns or religion ... as a way to explain their [economic] frustrations." But of course it was a Marxist thing to say, wasn't it? If Democrats had delivered on the economy, Obama suggests, all those GOP cultural "wedge" issues would lose traction. This idea--that the economy trumps culture--isn't new. It's "materialism." The economic "base," Marxists would argue, determines the cultural "superstructure." If the economy changes (i.e. if small town Pennsylvanians get well-paying jobs) then the superstructure will change (Pennsylvanians will feel less intensely about their religion).

Read it all here

Roots 3

2008-04-14T08:24:00.004-05:00

This my Great-Grandmother Sarah Haseltine (Cathey) Mathis. She was the mother of my Grandfather Matthews. Most of my kin have the last name Mathis. Some are Mathews and others Matthews. The story passed in my family is that my grandpa and one of his brothers had a fight about land or hogs (not sure which one) so my grandpa changed his name to Matthews. That being, said, there are records where the same person in my tree has Mathis written one place and Matthews another and Mathews still another. In fact, one record has one of my ancestor's last name as Mathus. This was before electronic records. Much of the different spelling is attributable to pronunciation by those giving the name. I have read many of the mountain folk would pronounce Matthews as Mathis. Okay - enough about that.

My great-grandmother was a Cathey. The Cathey's were one of the earliest settlers in Canada Township, Jackson County, N.C. (near Silva and Northwest of Brevard). They are Scots-Irish through and through. My oldest recorded Cathey ancestor was Alexander Cathey, who died in 1698, however, I am not sure if he died in America or in Ulster (that's Northern Ireland). His Son James emigrated to North America from Ulster. He was born in 1685.

The Cathey's were typical of the Scots-Irish migration to North America. They settled in Maryland (Cecil County), and as each generation arrived on the scene they moved south along the Appalachian chain. First the Cathey clan moved to Pennsylvania and then Virginia to the well known Beverly Manor with land along the Shenandoah River. They eventually ended up in North Carolina at what was originally called the Cathey Settlement -- outside of present day Salisbury, N.C. My ancestor James Cathey was a founding member of the Presbyterian Church there that is still a worshiping congregation to this day. His son's went further west and some ended up in the environs where my people come from.

BTW -- Scots-Irish is a bit of a confusing label. The Scots-Irish are Scots who emigrated to Northern Ireland and followed the Presbyterian religion of Scotland. They are the ancestors of today's Orangemen. That being said, Scots and Irish are all Celts and probably some of the Scots that moved to Northern Ireland intermarried with native Irish. The important point to remember is that when someone says they are Scots-Irish it does not mean they are half Scot and Half Irish. It means they are descended from the people who settled Ulster in the 17th and 18th century and emigrated to North America in the years before the Revolution. Most of my genes are from these people.

File Under -- You Better Watch What You Say

2008-04-08T14:56:00.001-05:00

Roots 2

2008-04-08T07:34:00.002-05:00

This photo is of my dad (James Matthews) and his older brother (my
Uncle Gene). Looking at my dad, this photo was probably taken in the early 1920's. More hillbilly fashion -- how about that tied off overall? That's their house behind them I think -- home made house.

Roots

2008-04-07T18:27:00.008-05:00

This is a picture of my Grandfather and Grandmother Matthews. They both died before I was born. They were born, lived and died in the Western Carolina Mountains -- the Blue Ridge. One side of my ancestry is rooted in those mountains. I guess that makes me half-hillbilly. This picture proves it!

UPDATE: The look on my grandfather's face is the "Matthews male look." My dad had it. My brothers have it. I have it. On the outside we are scowling -- but it doesn't mean anything. Heck, we might like look mad but be humming "What a Wonderful World in Our Minds!" Ha!

An Argument for Abstaining

2008-03-29T07:29:00.002-05:00

I tried to fast from politics during Lent. I did an okay job. I am glad for the attempt though. Lent and the Triduum are infinitely more important than the shenanigans of Hillary, Barack and John.

But now Lent is over and so I am back in the saddle. I begin my re-engagement with politics with an essay by Alasdair MacIntyre on abstaining -- from voting that is. He wrote this piece for the 2004 election, however, I find it intriguing in the face of the '08 election. I would love to have some friendly discussion about it.

Here is an excerpt:

When offered a choice between two politically intolerable alternatives, it is important to choose neither. And when that choice is presented in rival arguments and debates that exclude from public consideration any other set of possibilities, it becomes a duty to withdraw from those arguments and debates, so as to resist the imposition of this false choice by those who have arrogated to themselves the power of framing the alternatives. These are propositions which in the abstract may seem to invite easy agreement. But, when they find application to the coming presidential election, they are likely to be rejected out of hand. For it has become an ingrained piece of received wisdom that voting is one mark of a good citizen, not voting a sign of irresponsibility. But the only vote worth casting in November is a vote that no one will be able to cast, a vote against a system that presents one with a choice between Bush's conservatism and Kerry's liberalism, those two partners in ideological debate, both of whom need the other as a target.

Read it all here.

HT to CrunchyCon Blog.

This is the Night

2008-03-22T14:16:00.000-05:00

"What good would life have been to us, had Christ not come as our Redeemer?"

from the Exultet, The Great Vigil of Easter

Monday in Holy Week

2008-03-17T07:15:00.001-05:00

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Monday in Holy Week, BCP)

My Personality

2008-03-14T08:36:00.000-05:00

Just took this. Interesting.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-14T06:15:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, it's March 14. But in the Christian calendar nothing takes precedence over Holy Week, so the feast day is moved to today this year.

Have joyous day, drink a Guinness and may the road rise to meet ya!!

Winter in Kentucky...In March

2008-03-08T08:10:00.003-05:00

About every 7+ years Kentucky gets a real snow. Of course some times it comes the day before we move our clicks ahead for daylight savings time! Check it out.

Good Words from George McGovern

2008-03-07T15:24:00.005-05:00

George McGovern wrote this (no really, he did!).

Freedom Means Responsibility

By GEORGE MCGOVERN
March 7, 2008; Page A15

Nearly 16 years ago in these very pages, I wrote that "'one-size-fits all' rules for business ignore the reality of the market place." Today I'm watching some broad rules evolve on individual decisions that are even worse.

Under the guise of protecting us from ourselves, the right and the left are becoming ever more aggressive in regulating behavior. Much paternalist scrutiny has recently centered on personal economics, including calls to regulate subprime mortgages.

Read it all.

HT to Kruse Kronicle, my favorite econ blog.

Martyrdom of Perpetua

2008-03-07T07:17:00.004-05:00

March 7 is the day appointed to commemorate the martyrdom of Perpetua and her companions. Her story is arresting for the depth of faithfulness she exhibited in the face of a horrific death.

The Mission St. Clare website says,

During a persecution of Christians under the emperor Septimius Severus, a group of Christians died together in the arena at Carthage. Their final days have been recorded for us in a document that is partly in their own words, and partly in those of an anonymous narrator (sometimes thought to be Tertullian). What follow are extracts, sometimes condensed, from that document.

Vivia Perpetua was a catchumen (i.e. a convert not yet baptized), well educated and from a prosperous family, about 22 years old, married and apparently recently widowed, with a child at her breast, and with two brothers and both parents still living. (Her father was not a Christian.) Felicity (Latin: Felicitas) was a slave woman in advanced pregnancy. With them were Revocatus (also a slave), Saturninus, and Secundus.

They were arrested and placed in a dungeon, but after a few days two deacons visited the prison and by a gift of money to the jailers arranged (1) that they should have an interval in the better part of the prison to refresh themselves, and (2) that Perpetua should be allowed to keep her child with her.

Perpetua had a vision in which she saw a golden ladder, guarded by a fierce dragon, but she climbed it, stepping on the dragon's head to do so. At the top, she found herself in a green meadow, with many white-robed figures, and in their midst a shepherd, who welcomed her and gave her a morsel of cheese from the sheep-milk. She awakened and understood that their martyrdom was certain.

Perpetua writes:

After a few days there was a report that we were to have a hearing in court. And my father came to me from the city, worn out with anxiety. He came up to me, that he might cast me down, saying: "Have pity, my daughter, on my grey hairs. Have pity on your father, if I am worthy to be called a father by you. If with these hands I have brought you up to this flower of your age, if I have preferred you to all your brothers, do not deliver me up to the scorn of men. Have regard to your brothers, have regard to your mother and your aunt, have regard to your son, who will not be able to live after you. Lay aside your courage, and do not bring us all to destruction; for none of us will speak in freedom if you should suffer anything." These things said my father in his affection, kissing my hands, and throwing himself at my feet, and with tears he called me not Daughter, but Lady. And I grieved over the grey hairs of my father, that he alone of all my kindred would have no joy in my death. And I comforted him, saying, "On that scaffold, whatever God wills shall happen. For know that we are not placed in our own power but in that of God." And he departed from me in sorrow.

Perpetua had had a brother who died of cancer when he was eight years old. She prayed for him, and received assurance in a vision that all was well with him.

Her narrative continues:

After a few days, Pudens, an assistant overseer of the prison, began to hold us in high esteem, seeing that God was with us, and he admitted many of the brethren to see us, that we and they might be mutually refreshed.

Perpetua had another vision, in which she saw herself fighting against a gladiator in the arena, and winning. She understood this to signify victory over the devil.

Saturus also had a vision, which he records in his own words, in which he and the others, having died in the arena, are borne by angels into a beautiful garden, where they greet other martyrs who have gone before them, and are brought before the throne of God, surrounded by twenty-four elders (see Revelation 4), who greet them and say, "Enter into joy." Perpetua says to Saturus: "I was joyful in the flesh, and here I am more joyful still."

The narrator writes:

Now Felicitas was eight months pregnant, and the law did not allow a pregnant woman to be executed. She was accordingly fearful that her death would be postponed, and instead of dying with her fellow Christians she would be put to death later in the company of some group of criminals. She and her companions accordingly prayed, and Felicity went into labor, with the pains normal to an eight-month delivery. And a servant of the jailers said to her, "If you cry out like that now, what will you do when you are thrown to the beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice?" And she replied: "Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then Another will be in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him." Thus she brought forth a little girl, whom a certain sister brought up as her own.

The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison to the amphitheater, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenance. At the gate, the guards were going to dress them in the robes of those dedicated to Saturn and to Ceres. But that noble-minded woman [Perpetua?] said: "We are here precisely for refusing to honor your gods. By our deaths we earn the right not to wear such garments." The guards recognized the justice of her words, and let them wear their own clothing.

The men of their company were scheduled to be killed by beasts, but the wild boar turned on its keeper instead, and the bear refused to leave its cage. The leopard, however, attacked Saturus and mortally wounded him. He bade farewell to his guard, Pudens, encouraging him to obey God rather than man, and then fell unconscious.

For the young women there was prepared a fierce cow. Perpetua was first led in. She was tossed, and when she saw her tunic torn from her side, she drew it as a veil over her middle, rather mindful of her modesty than of her sufferings. Then the was called up again, and bound up her dishevelled hair, for it is not becoming for a martyr to die with dishevelled hair, which is a sign of mourning. She saw Felicity wounded, and took her hand and raised her up, and at the demand of the populace they were given a respite.

Now all the prisoners were to be slain with the sword, and they went to the center of the arena, first exchanging a farewell kiss of peace. The others died unmoving and silent, but when the awkward hand of the young executioner bungled her death-stroke, Perpetua cried out in pain, and herself guided his hand to her throat. Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.

written by James Kiefer

Prayer

O God the King of saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
from the Mission St. Clare website

Good Word From John Wesley

2008-03-01T08:04:00.001-05:00

Good words from John Wesley (HT -- Matt Perkins)

“From a child I was taught to love and reverence the Scripture, the oracles of God; and, next to these, to esteem the primitive Fathers, the writers of the first three centuries. Next after the primitive Church, I esteem our own, the Church of England."

-John Wesley

Civil War Ancestry

2008-02-28T19:47:00.003-05:00

One of my hobbies is to read military history. I am especially interested in Civil War history.

One of my Great-Grandfathers, Christopher H. Prosser (My mother's maternal grandfather) was a Civil War veteran. He served in Company H of the Iowa 36th Volunteer Infantry. His regiment spent the bulk of its service in Arkansas.

Above is a picture his regimental flag.

Any other Civil War descendents out there?

William F. Buckley Dead at 82 -- R.I.P.

2008-02-27T13:49:00.003-05:00

William F. Buckley is dead at 82. Read the NYT piece here.

This is Just Plain Interesting

2008-02-27T10:43:00.001-05:00

Micheal Kruse has put up a post discussing generational research and the coming election. I take this stuff with a grain of salt, but it is very, very interesting.

Is an Obama versus McCain campaign evidence of a "Fourth Turning" as described by William Strauss and Neil Howe? I know some of my readers roll their eyes at this stuff about generations but a couple of years ago I did an eleven part series (Index) on Strauss and Howeâs work, focusing primarily on their books Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 and The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy. An Obama versus McCain campaign seems to reflect what Strauss and Howe (S&H) would predict during our era. I've got to give some considerable background to get to my point, so here goes.

Read it all here.

Tim Keller

2008-02-26T21:21:00.003-05:00

Great interview with Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.

Read it here.

Os Guiness on Frank Schaeffer's "Crazy For God"

2008-02-26T12:25:00.002-05:00

Os Guinness has a written a strong critique of Frank Schaeffer's Crazy For God.

Here is an excerpt:

I challenge this central charge of Frank's with everything in me. I and many of my closest friends, who knew the Schaeffers well, are certain beyond a shadow of doubt that they would challenge it too. Defenders of truth to others, Francis and Edith Schaeffer were people of truth themselves.

For six years I was as close to Frank as anyone outside his own family, and probably closer than many in his family. I was his best man at his wedding. Life has taken us in different directions over the past thirty years, but I counted him my dear friend and went through many of the escapades he recounts and many more that would not bear rehearsing in print. It pains to me say, then, that his portrait is cruel, distorted, and self-serving, but I cannot let it pass unchallenged without a strong insistence on a different way of seeing the story. There is all the difference in the world between flaws and hypocrisy. Francis and Edith Schaeffer were lions for truth. No one could be further from con artists, even unwitting con artists, than the Francis and Edith Schaeffer I knew, lived with, and loved.

Read the rest here.

HT to Boar's Head Tavern.

Cool Lenten Resource

2008-02-26T09:18:00.003-05:00

Check out this cool Lenten resource -- reading the Early Church Fathers in Lent.

Go here.

Larry Norman R.I.P.

2008-02-25T09:51:00.003-05:00

Larry Norman -- one of the pioneers of Christian rock --went to be with the Lord over the weekend.

Go here for info.

HT to Imonk.

Feast Day of Æthelbert

2008-02-25T08:51:00.002-05:00

Today is the Feast Day of Æthelbert, the Pagan King who allowed Augustine's mission to England and later converted to Christianity himself. Here is info about AEthelbert from the Mission of St. Clare Website.

------

The Christian Gospel was preached in Britain before 200, and by 300 the Celtic peoples of the island were largely Christian; but in the 400's southeastern Britain (what we now call England) was invaded by tribes of pagan Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) who subdued the Christian Celts or drove them north and west into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. The reconversion of England was then accomplished by Celtic missionaries entering England from the north and west, and Roman missionaries entering from the south and east.

The Jute kingdom of Kent was in the southeast corner of England, and in 597 a delegation of monks arrived from Rome, headed by Augustine of Canterbury (26 May 605) (not to be confused with his more famous namesake, Augustine of Hippo (28 August 430)). Æthelbert, king of Kent, was a pagan, but his wife Bertha, a Frankish princess, was a Christian, and he welcomed the strangers, listened politely to their invitation to convert, told them that he was resolved to continue in the religion of his fathers, and gave them a plot of ground and permission to build a church and to preach to anyone who cared to listen. Four years later, after at least 10,000 of his subjects had converted, Æthelbert himself was baptized. He did not pressure his remaining pagan subjects to follow him, but gave the missionaries help and encouragement in their preaching, built the cathedral of Saint Andrew in Rochester and the monastery of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (later the cathedral of Saint Augustine) at Canterbury; and influenced the conversion of King Sabert of the East Saxons, in whose territory he built the church of Saint Paul, London. He died on 24 February 616; but because that is the Feast of Matthias the Apostle, he is commemorated on 25 February.

written by James Kiefer

This Officially Makes Me Feel Old

2008-02-25T08:32:00.002-05:00

Looks like Prince -- I mean the artist formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince -- is getting hip replacement surgery. Jeesh -- what next -- Gene Simmons getting a face lift? (Oh yeah, I guess he did get one of those.)

Read about his majesty here.

Nader Throws Hat in Ring

2008-02-24T10:54:00.002-05:00

Looks like Ralph is running again. Will he take votes from Obama/Hillary? If so, the dems will be mad and the repubs happy. A fascinating campaign made even more so!

Read the WaPo article here.