THE SURPRISINGLY RELAXED LIVES OF ELITE ACHIEVERS
For everyone heading into finals and the end of the semester!
(via Instapaper)
The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers
A MINOR FRIAR: ADVICE TO THEOLOGY STUDENTS
Equally good for undergraduate majors, graduate students, and those simply interested in theology.
a minor friar: Advice to Theology Students
THE MILQUETOAST RADICALS
David Brooks is so on-point about the fundamental frivolity and illusion of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The Milquetoast Radicals
REPORTERS, BAPTISTS, ROMNEY & ‘CULTS’
Just can’t recommend GetReligion enough for anyone who wants to make sense of the ways that theological points appear in the news.
(via Instapaper)
Reporters, Baptists, Romney & ‘cults’
BIG PICTURE AT WORLD YOUTH DAY: 'IT’S THE EVANGELICALS, STUPID!'
John Allen’s take on WYD just past.
Big Picture at World Youth Day: 'It’s the Evangelicals, stupid!'
Happy summer evening
THE COMING CLOUD WARS
If Silicon Valley were hosting a basketball tournament for consumer money and mindshare in the cloud, right now we’d be looking at a Final Four of Google, Apple (plus Twitter), Microsoft (plus Facebook) and Amazon (especially if they can make a compelling tablet).
The Coming Cloud Wars
HOW TO LAND YOUR KID IN THERAPY - THE ATLANTIC
The unfortunate roots and bad results of the helicopter parenting I see so much of at school.
How to Land Your Kid in Therapy - The Atlantic
ISRAELITES IN THE ANGLO-SAXON SEA
Fascinating take on Anglo-Saxon religious poetry, referring to this new volume of translations.
Israelites in the Anglo-Saxon Sea
Avatar of sleep
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE IPAD
“The next time you watch a child use an iPad, think about what your knowledge-based toys looked like when you were their age. The iPad is their slide rule; their typewriter; their Commodore 64. As great as the iPad is, it’s more mind blowing to imagine what will soon deprecate it.”
It’s not about the iPad
FR. BARRON ON THE POPE'S NEW BOOK
Fine description of the dynamic between historical-critical and theological interpretation.
(Via Ignatius Insight.)
Fr. Barron on the Pope's new book
OH: JOYS OF TEACHING
Student: So did I miss anything last class?
Teacher: Nope, I awkwardly stared at the class for 50 minutes. But you should stop in next Wednesday, I’m thinking of covering some stuff then.
THE THEOLOGICAL NECESSITY OF AN HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE
Truer words never spoken: “The moment the “Word became flesh” (Jn. 1:14), history became essential to the task of thinking about and proclaiming the good news of the Bible, and it became essential for very theological reasons.”
The Theological Necessity of an Historical Interpretation of the Bible
EIGHT REASONS TO DRINK COFFEE
Is there nothing this wonder beverage cannot do?
Eight reasons to drink coffee
RESEARCH UPENDS TRADITIONAL THINKING ON STUDY HABITS
“psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong.” - Click the link to see what does work; you’ll be surprised.
(via Instapaper)
Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits
PONDERING ISLAM AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Pondering Islam and its discontents: “To put all this into a sound-bite, the church’s approach to interreligious dialogue is moving beyond the tea-and-cookies stage, where the point is simply to be polite to one another. Today a more balanced form of engagement is emerging, which promises more substantive, but also more potentially combustible, conversations.”
Another fine column from John Allen, the one writer who makes NCR worth reading.
Pondering Islam and its discontents
Birthday!
FAITH ABIDES: THE INTELLIGENCE OF BENEDICT XVI | FR. JAMES V. SCHALL, S.J.
Fr. Schall reviews Tracey Rowland on BXVI; not to be missed, and good in the wake of the UK visit to bring home Benedict’s theological vision.
(via Instapaper)
Faith Abides: The Intelligence of Benedict XVI | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
HAWKING AND CREATION » FIRST THINGS
Money quote: “In the end, Hawking on theology reminds me of ill-informed fundamentalists and their efforts at creation “science.” There’s no actual interest in a broad engagement with the challenges of understanding, just a mulish push to make what one already understands into the key for understanding everything else.”
Hawking and Creation » First Things
BENEDICT XVI & THE BIBLE
Here’s the conclusion of a longer article from Fr. Lienhard on BXVI’s approach to Scripture. Well worth reading the whole thing.
“The theology of the Bible elaborated by Pope Benedict XVI in the course of almost fifty years might be summarized in ten theses.
The word of God must be approached with sympathetic understanding, a readiness to experience something new, and a readiness to be taken along a new path (cf. God’s Word, 116).
A true understanding of the Bible calls for a philosophy that is open to analogy and participation, and not based on the dogmatism of a worldview derived from natural science (cf. God’s Word, 118).
The exegete may not exclude, a priori, the possibility that God could speak in human words in this world, or that God could act in history and enter into it (cf. God’s Word, 116).
Faith is a component of biblical interpretation, and God is a factor in historical events (cf. God’s Word, 126).
Besides being seen in their historical setting and interpreted in their historical contexts, the texts of Scripture must be seen from the perspective of the movement of history as a whole and of Christ as the central event.
Because the biblical word bears witness to revelation, a biblical passage can signify more than its author was able to conceive in composing it (cf. God’s Word, 123).
The exegetical question cannot be solved by simply retreating into the Middle Ages or the Fathers, nor can it renounce the insights of the great believers of all ages, as if the history of thought began seriously only with Kant (cf. God’s Word, 114 and 125).
Dei Verbum envisioned a synthesis of historical method and theological hermeneutics, but did not elaborate it. The theological part of its statements needs to be attended to (cf. God’s Word, 98-99).
Exegesis is theological, as Dei Verbum taught, particularly on these points: (1) Sacred Scripture is a unity, and individual texts are understood in light of the whole. (2) The one historical subject that traverses all of Scripture is the people of God. (3) Scripture must be read from the Church as its true hermeneutical key. Thus, Tradition does not obstruct access to Scripture but opens it; and, conversely, the Church has a decisive say in the interpretation of Scripture (cf. God’s Word, 97).
Theology may not be detached from its foundation in the Bible or be independent of exegesis (cf. God’s Word, 93).”
(Via Carl Olson.)
FORGET WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT GOOD STUDY HABITS
Cognitive science revises ideas about studying.
Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits
BXVI & THE FRAGILITY OF REASON
Nice piece by Weigel that puts BXVI’s trip to Britain in context of broader Western Civ. issues
BXVI & the fragility of reason
AYAAN HIRSI ALI: HOW TO WIN THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS
Politically incorrect, but nonetheless accurate: “The greatest advantage of Huntington’s civilizational model of international relations is that it reflects the world as it is—not as we wish it to be.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: How to Win the Clash of Civilizations
RAZING GENERATIONAL BASTIONS
Nice updating and reapplication of Balthasar’s thoughts on razing the bastions, from Homiletic & Pastoral Review; good for Gen-X types such as myself to remember!
“Most of the young people I know here at St. Louis University, for example, pray and worship and serve in a “post-dissent” Church… They are not reacting against anything internally within the Church but only outwardly against the alienating harshness of secular modernism.”
Razing generational bastions