The Only Orthodoxy is Reason

Late last week, the Dutch politician Geert Wilders released his highly controversial film, Fitna, on the internet. Wilders is a conservative politician who has called the Koran a fascist book and denounced Islam for its violent teachings.  Public figures in Europe and the Middle East denounced the film before it was even released, fearing that […]

Dear Mr Bernanke, 
I certainly don’t envy your job lately.  Congratulations on surviving a tough initial period of your tenure.
 
As you probably already know in theory, it is unlikely that the decision-making role of the Federal Reserve will grow easier before it becomes more difficult.  Unfortunately, sir, this is in no small part your fault nor […]

“I’m personally opposed to slavery, but I don’t want to force my opinion on people who support the right to own slaves.”
This statement probably sounds ridiculous to most people, but it was, more or less, the position of Stephen Douglas, the Democratic candidate for president in 1860. Douglas is famous for his failed attempt to […]

Early in World War II, Japan considered invading the mainland of the United States. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese naval forces and architect of the Pearl Harbor bombing, advised against invading. Twenty years prior, Admiral Yamamoto had spent a few years in the United States studying at Harvard University. […]

I was at a Baptist convention a couple of weeks ago. The focus of the convention was unity within the Baptist denomination and a concerted effort toward improving social justice. There were lots of seminars on interesting issues such as combating poverty and confronting the criminal justice system. Each day, they had a general gathering […]

Lent is a liturgical “season” on the Christian calendar which, in most denominations, begins with Ash Wednesday continuing through Holy Saturday and culminating the following day, Easter Sunday. This occurs around mid-February through March on our calendars. The Lenten season is forty days, at least in Western […]

Part two of Mr. Cook’s excellent series of essays authored for this site.
SATAN AND THE SECOND ‘MAN’
It is no secret that Jesus’s favorite term for Himself was Son of Man. But what He meant by that term is mysterious indeed. I read my Bible for years without understanding this subtle, almost literary term. […]

They shouted again, “Crucify him” [Jesus].  Pilate said to them, “Why?  What evil has he done?”  They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”  So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd …handed him over to be crucified. — Mark 15 
This week, the US Congress along with President Bush passed what is hoped to be an economic […]

I often think that we don’t pay enough attention to the language we use. By that, I don’t mean that we curse or swear too much. I mean that we often use words, or use words in ways, that say things about the world that we may not mean or even believe.  This is a […]

In my last essay, I promised to work through the “Boiling Baby” dilemma to reach a morally justifiable course of action for the actor in the hypothetical. It’s been awhile since the original post, so I’ll start by restating the dilemma:
Imagine that you are a federal law enforcement agent in New York. In […]

This is the first of a series of four guest essays by Tom Cook concerning the metaphysical implications of gender roles in the scriptural narrative. Mr. Cook is a medical student at Northwestern University, and a Catholic lay theologian. The essays are of interest both for the conclusions they reach, and the ’speculative’ […]

In medical school, we are instructed that when performing a breast exam, we should reassure the patient at the end of the exam by confirming that her exam was “healthy and normal.” This particular phrase has been conceived to avoid saying such awkward […]

Václav Havel was an essayist and playwright in communist Czechoslovakia. He was an outspoken dissident to the communist regime and in 1975 he wrote an open letter to the president (or “general secretary”).  In it, he critically analyzed the detrimental effects that the communist political system had on the Czech society and outlined his perceived […]

“We all need, at times, to escape the implications of our logic.”
 
Chicago Tribune writer Eric Zorn blogged today about his experience using a series of online political questionnaires.  The intent, of course, is to have an objective tool (computer programming) compute the user’s answers to policy questions and determine the user’s ideal candidate.  I found […]

Recently, as I was explaining to a visitor the various relief and development projects being implemented by our organization I was asked the question “how does the Gospel fit into that”. My immediate response was cliché and somewhat defensive until I gained enough clarity of thought to ask in return “what exactly is the Gospel”. […]