conjectural navel gazing; jesus in lint form

belated news linkage

Finally, it is winter. I love this weather. I know that it must sound insane to many, but I do like it in spite of the dire warnings.

The combination of cold early morning temperatures and northwest winds of 15 to 20 mph... will produce dangerous wind chills ranging from 20 below to 30 below this morning. Wind chills will rise above dangerous thresholds by late this morning as winds diminish and daytime warming occurs.

Now before any of you start saying things like "You see! Cold weather is dangerous!" I would like to remind you of two words: heat stroke.

Welcome, winter! I had alsmost forgotten what you were like. The current temperature is -6.

Reason has an interesting article about the separation of religion and science, two separate but equal socio-philosophical camps in America. I do not link to this because I agree with it but to remind us that there are some out there that think that this whole ID debate is foolish because there is no God. I have been so caught up in the church-based debate that I almost forgot. Silly me.

This is another article on the burning of churches in Alabama. Yeah, I know I link to Get Religion almost every day. You should, too.

AKMA is discussing the value of an online roleplaying game that focuses on organized religion as its backdrop. It is interesting to read his thoughts about the complexities of religious life.

Susie shares a Valentine's Day recipe.

The Nation has this article by Bernard-Henri Lévy about waking up America's political left.

booklist
I have been reading a great deal on the train to and from work. Here are some authors and titles I would encourage you to pick up.

Thielicke, Helmut - The Trouble With The Church - This is a great rant on the state of preaching in post-WWII Germany. The benefit of reading this book is that the US churches are about forty years behind. Heh. Okay, so I exaggerate. But give it a read.

Hinson, E. Glenn - The Integrity of The Church - It is good to read Hinson if you are a Baptist. He has shaped many of the moderate to liberal voices in our denomination. He taught at Southern for a good long while. I had him as a professor in '93 at Baptist Theological seminary at Richmond. It is a good book for reminding us that what we were arguing about thirty years ago is what we are arguing about now.

Tylenda SJ, Joseph N. A Pilgrim's Journey - This is a lovely biography about St Ignatius of Loyola.

Stroud, Jonathan The Bartimeus Trilogy - I read these three books in about five days. After Thielicke, I needed a little something else. If you like British humor and fantasy fiction, this is your trilogy.

I have a few books warming up in the bullpen: Iris Murdock's Soverignty of Love; Anthony Lane's John Calvin: Student of the Church Fathers; and Francois Wendel's Calvin: Origins and Development of His Religious Thought. Someone needs to recommend another stretch of fantasy to read after these three. Please?

Posted by tripp at February 18, 2006 06:31 AM