Once again:

MICHAELMAS!


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Dan pointed out to me a column from The Guardian dealing with the ongoing problem of Western unwillingness to defend liberal principles, in this case as exemplified in the response to the assassination (or martyrdom) of civil rights activist Shahbaz Bhatti this past week (and of Salmaan Taseer, earlier) in Pakistan. Bad right-wing thinking is at ( Read more... )

He keeps going, and going, and going.... I see that my revered dissertation subject, Francis A. Sullivan, S.J., kicks off this year's first issue of Theological Studies with an article entitled "The Development of the Doctrine about Infants Who Die Unbaptized." Not bad for a scholar soon to turn 89. I suspect that this is a spin-off of the ( Read more... )

There was a particularly fascinating interview that John Allen posted on his "All Things Catholic" column on the National Catholic Reporter website the other week, where he interviewed an Orthodox Jewish professor of Law at New York University named Joseph Weiler, who has been a major collaborator with the Vatican on the question of the Christian ( Read more... )

If you've ever had the slightest temptation to read one of the professional articles I copy into my journal for my own later use, this is the one not to miss.One of the most exciting and interesting parts of being an historian is not just learning something new about the human adventure, but in learning something new that corrects a story that you ( Read more... )

Utterly exhausted. An unbelievably long and full day, with lots of superstar names.

900-1130 - Rethinking Secularism a panel with Charles Taylor of McGill University, José Casanova of Georgetown University, Saba Mahmood of Berkeley, and Craig Calhoun of New York University
1145-1245 - Contemporary Islam: The Meaning and the Need of a Radical ( Read more... )

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It's been a day of quiet decompression after my visit with the family and playing with my nieces and nephew. The biggest event of the day was having Erin Fitz trip across me reading by the fountain in the overcast dusk, and catching up with her a bit, mostly finding out what she's doing in Milwaukee instead of at Boston College, and her getting ( Read more... )

An interesting piece of analysis from John Allen. I'm not sure if he's right, but it's interesting nevertheless.

From Italy to Iran, voters hand the church a mandate on Islam
By John L Allen JrCreated Jun 12, 2009 ( Read more... )

This article caught my eye in a recent issue of First Things, based on a lecture by the noted historian Robert Louis Wilken, from the University of Virginia, who I once thought about studying under. I thought it would be useful to have jotted down here in my journal. Christianity Face to Face with Islam
by Robert Louis Wilken

Copyright ( Read more... )