The Christian Humanist

Insurrection: To Believe Is Human, To Doubt Divine. by Peter Rollins 185 pp.  Howard Books.  $16.00. In 2009 I started a journey into existentialism, a body of philosophy and literature…

General Introduction – The end of the semester – Freudian slips The Surplus Population – Scrooge and Thomas Malthus – Enlightenment optimism – Population checks – Tiny Tim as a…

Revised Common Lectionary Page for 25 December 2011 (The Nativity of the Lord, Year B) Isaiah 9:2-7  • Psalm 96  • Titus 2:11-14  • Luke 2:1-14, (15-20) I did preach the Sunday morning sermon on Easter…

Another editorial on why colleges and universities are tanking (’cause we just can’t get enough of those) Rod Dreher on why even Catholics are Protestants now A tribute to Edward…

I see no need for show notes this week—let the bibliography speak for itself.   BIBLIOGRAPHY Augustine. Confessions. Trans. Henry Chadwick. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics:…

Revised Common Lectionary Page for 18 December 2011 (Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B) 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16  • Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26   • Romans 16:25-27   • Luke 1:26-38 Once again, I’ll be preaching this text…

General Introduction – The semester’s eschaton – Listener feedback What Is an Academic Conference? – Annual gathering of learned people – The make-up of the conference – Plenary lectures and…

Revised Common Lectionary Page for 11 December 2011 (Third Sunday of Advent, Year B) Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11  •  Psalm 126 or Luke 1:46b-55  •  1 Thessalonians 5:16-24   •  John 1:6-8, 19-28   If the small number of history…

Revised Common Lectionary Page for 4 December 2011 (Second Sunday of Advent, Year B) Isaiah 40:1-11  •  Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13  •  2 Peter 3:8-15a   •  Mark 1:1-8 Over the years, since I discovered in 1996 that…

General Introduction – “Technical difficulties” – What’s on the blog? – David, half-asleep – Women crawl out of the woodwork Biblical Creation – Stewardship – Christ as agent of creation…

Revised Common Lectionary Readings for 27 November 2011 (First Sunday of Advent, Year B) Isaiah 64:1-9  • Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19  • 1 Corinthians 1:3-9  • Mark 13:24-37 The new Church year is upon…

Epilepsy Awareness at Thanksgiving Chris Maxwell, Emmanuel College’s campus minister, has asked me to pass this link along to our readers.  Chris has been a good friend to me in…

Conservative intellectuals and why they’re so hard to find these days 13 Reasons why Rachel Held Evans is a lousy feminist

Why Read Moby-Dick? By Nathaniel Philbrick. 144 pp. Viking Adult. $25. If such a thing as the Great American Novel exists, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is almost certainly the finest example…

Revised Common Lectionary Page for 20 November 2011 (23rd Sunday after Pentecost, Year A) Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 100  • Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Psalm 95:1-7a  • Ephesians 1:15-23  • Matthew 25:31-46…