Sunday, January 07, 2007

Notes and Links

* The Carnival of Citizens, at "Sportive Thoughts", has been postponed one week to allow people more time to get submissions in. The theme is Reconciliation, but any posts considering matters of politics and society from a reflective and deliberative view will be considered. Please consider submitting something.

* The Madman of Chu gives some clarification about what is going on with Christianity in China. As one might expect (but somehow as we never do expect!), it's very, very complicated.

* It's from 2005, but I just recently came across Rabbi Charles Arian's nuanced discussion of the complications of Jewish + Christian prayer services.

* Chinese Siege Warfare. The place to go if you ever need to unite everything under Heaven in the Warring States period, or if you ever become a Mohist advocating the value of universal benevolence and catapults.

* Anniina has a nice post on Mary Astell at "Mischievous Muse".

* It is, was, and probably always will be the best version of the song "Hallelujah", even if Buckley's is far better known: Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Buckley's changes turned Cohen's song of battered victory into a song of sordid defeat by replacing the last two stanzas. These last two stanzas I've always thought stunning; and well worth remembering in a world filled to overflowing with broken Hallelujahs. They also fit much better with the David and Bathsheba theme.

* Scott Carson looks at the causal structure of the world in relation to some aspects of Catholic thought at "An Examined Life".

* Phil of "hyperekperissou" has up his weekly Patristic Roundup.

* The Black and Tan model of Christology at "Alive and Young" might come in handy as a discussion piece if you are ever in a bar and need a shot of theology with your beer. Mix the two at your own risk.

* There is some interesting discussion at "Maverick Philosopher" on Dawkins's complexity argument.

* Today, as the Solemnity of the Baptism of Our Lord, brings Christmastide to a close in most places. In other places, due to slightly quirky calendars, this is not quite so; American Catholics, for instance, have Epiphany as a movable feast that falls today, which messes things up slightly and breaks an age-old rhythm of the year. Well, liturgical timekeeping is not an exact science; and as I'm of the opinion that you should never celebrate once what you can celebrate twice, I don't really have a problem with divergent calendars. The more holidays, the better; it gives you a chance to celebrate them in multiple ways in the course of a single year. In any case, the move out of Christmastide is likely to return things to normal, or bring them closer to normal around here; less focus on feasts and more on other things.'

UPDATES:

* Apparently one of the curious twists of the recent AHA convention was that Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a well regarded and very mild-mannered historian, was thrown on the ground, handcuffed, and thrown in jail for eight hours with a bail of one thousand dollars -- for jaywalking. He is interviewed about the experience here. He has a good sense of humor about the whole situation; I'm glad, though, that the AHA is considering registering a complaint. (HT: Cliopatria)

* Ehud Sprinzak's essay, Rational Fanatics (PDF), on suicide terrorism. It's a little dated, but still the must-read article on the subject.

* Ronald Knox's great satire of source criticism, Materials for a Boswellian Problem