Membership Covenants
In conversation last Sunday afternoon with someone visiting from the Pacific Northwest, the topic of membership covenants at large evangelical churches came up.
Market Distortions of Love
I recently noted a quote from William Wang, CEO of Vizio: “The biggest measurement we have is how many customers love us. To achieve that, the product must be good, and it must be affordable.”
The Austrians Were Right
I’ve recently run across the Austrians a bit while listening to some podcasts on RAI3 from an economic conference held by Italian economists a couple of weeks ago in Italy. Most of these guys are not of the Austrian school, but in a little research on the ideas I’ve run across the Austrians a bit. It looks like interesting stuff, but questions remain.
God’s People Reconciling
A friend recently brought this address by Ronald Sider to my attention. Though over 20 years old, I find it as challenging today as it must have been then. God’s People Reconciling
Common Good and Economics
This is a brief introduction to my translation into English of the Italian economist Luigino Bruni’s essay “Bene Comune ed Economia: per una economia agapica”, or “Common Good and Economics: toward an agapic economy”, in which he proposes four possible ways to introduce agapic love into the marketplace.
Entrance Exam
Last week my wife received a letter from a girl she had visited in the county jail. The girl asked her thoughts on a few questions for a Bible study in their tank, one of which was this: “If you were in front of God right now, and he asked you, ‘Why should I let you in my Kingdom of Heaven?’, what would your answer be?” My wife mentioned this to me last Saturday, and after a few moments’ reflection I responded: “Because I want what you want.”
Idol, Boredom, Vanity, Love
Jean-Luc Marion, in God Without Being, has given me the first effective response to Quohelet’s charge of vanity with which I have struggled much of my life. I read this but two weeks ago, and already I find it challenging and transforming a long held instinctive response to the world.
Radical Equality
Four hundred years of prophetic silence was broken by John the Baptist with a succinct statement of radical equality. Tom Friedman sees the world flattening now; John saw that two millennia ago.
Conversation Overheard on a Plane
Flying the Tuesday after Memorial Day I overheard a conversation between a man and a woman behind me; these were chance seatmates for this flight. He was a geologist, perhaps 50+ years old, and she was perhaps late 60s or 70s.
Online Philosophy Study
I just found this NPR review on the University of Illinois, Springfield, through which I am studying philosophy online. I am in my fourth year of study. UIS has a very good program; the standards are high, and the profs … Read More