It was a great honor to be invited to give the Dillard series of lectures at Trinity United Methodist Church this year. Wow, what a turn-out! and what wonderfully warm, hospitable, and thoughtful folks I met there, people deeply invested in the pursuit of understanding, committed as much to the humbling business of query and …
When Republicans opened the 112th Congress with a reading of the Constitution, they faced a challenge that threatened to undermine the whole purpose of the reading, to demonstrate adherence to the original document. The trouble, you see, is that the times they’ve gone a-changing… For one thing, blacks actually count today not as three-fifths of a person …
Flexibility in What Is Fixed — Constitution and the Bible Read More »
That Sarah sure does have a way with words. Palin’s latest, not an “oops” moment but actually something she posted online, upped the righteous hackles of a lot of people and left others going, “huh?” So, what is it? In short: “blood libel” is an accusation originally and historically used as a means of inciting hatred …
Ah, the power of the written word. Did you know that this phrase comes from the Bible? This phrase, which we use to tell that something’s sure to happen, comes from Daniel, one of the latest books of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Today’s RefDesk.com quote of the day puts a new spin on it. Here’s …
A hot summer day, slow river, cooler of bevs, swimsuit, and a few good friends — ingredients for a lazy day of tubing. At least that’s what “tubing” brings to mind around here in Richmond. Drinking, chatting, napping your way through an afternoon on the James in July. In cold weather places, tubing is a winter thing, too. …
One of the most iconic images of western art is Michelangelo’s “creation of man” in the Sistine chapel. You know the one — a stirring painting depicting an impressive old man God reaching from the clouds to touch the outstretched hand of a young Adam. But just what, exactly, is that image based on? Genesis tells the creation …
They call her “Ardi” and judge her, at 4.4 million years old, to be the oldest intact skeleton of an ancestor to humans discovered yet. Discovered in Ethiopia, she’s all the news, not least because she’s different from the chimps that many scientists had thought we humans evolved from, so many millions of years ago. Ardi wasn’t a knuckle-dragger, but …
The Coen brothers are out with a new one. Among my favorite film-makers today, the Coen brothers just released “A Serious Man,” based in part on the biblical Job. I’m eager to see how they handle the story. Do they present their Job as a saint, of storied patience, like the popular characterization of this biblical …
