Happy Columbus Day!

Walter Russell Mead explains why Columbus Day has nothing to do with celebrating genocide [and very little to do with Columbus]:

.... In American history, the fight to make a holiday on Columbus Day actually had almost nothing to do with the actual arrival of Christopher Columbus in the western hemisphere. It wasn’t about celebrating the European conquest of the Americas or the extirpation of the native tribes. ....

Back in the 1930s there was a widespread feeling among both Protestant and Catholic Americans that Roman Catholics, and especially Catholics from non-English speaking countries, were not and could not be ‘real Americans’. Al Smith, the popular governor of New York, was the first Roman Catholic ever nominated for the presidency by a major party; suspicion of his religion made his defeat even greater than usual, as many solidly Democratic and pro-Prohibition voters in the South deserted the Catholic “wet” to vote for the reliably dry Protestant, Herbert Hoover.

For the KKK in those days, Catholics were one of the foreign influences that ‘real’ Americans had to fight, and many Protestant whites still considered Italians, Greeks and other southern European ethnic groups to be too ‘swarthy’ to be fully white. ....

The Italian-Americans were the largest and most powerful Catholic ethnic group that still felt themselves to be uneasily outside the American mainstream. They were (and are) swing voters; especially in FDR’s home state of New York Italian-Americans (partly out of old rivalries with the Irish) are often Republicans.

The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut as a Catholic fraternal organization. Catholics were forbidden by Rome to join the Freemasons, and other fraternal groups at that time in the US barred Catholics from membership. ....

The Knights of Columbus filled a need and quickly became a national organization. Membership in the organization was a way for Catholics to help themselves and their community, to assert their identity as Catholics, and also to move into the culture of civic activism and voluntary associations that is a hallmark of traditional Anglo-Protestant social organization in both the UK and the US. ....

The order was controversial; in 1912 claims that the fourth degree knights had to swear an oath to exterminate Freemasons and Protestants became widespread, and the charges figured in the 1928 campaign against Al Smith. When the Episcopalian Democrat Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932, the lobbying by the Knights of Columbus and Italian-American organizations and lobbies to make Columbus Day a national holiday grew intense, and FDR signed a bill to make October 12 a holiday in 1934.

Columbus Day is not an imperialistic holiday. It is a celebration of American diversity, a long overdue recognition of the importance of Catholics and immigrants in American life. It is a celebration we share with our Hispanic neighbors in the New World and it is a day that testifies to our growing understanding that religious and ethnic pluralism aren’t problems for our American heritage; pluralism is central to our identity as a people.

That American Indian activists want to use the day to make a point is OK with me; they have a point to make. But Columbus Day is a holiday that was created to celebrate the dignity and equality of Americans regardless of origin or creed, and that in my view is an excellent reason for the country to take the day off. ....

For some reason I had always assumed that Al Smith was Irish. Not true:

Alfred E. Smith, aka Alfred Emanuele Ferrara, was first Italian-American Presidential candidate.

Happy Columbus Day (Observed) | Via Meadia, In Honor of Columbus Day | Strange Herring

Indian Summer

 Wisconsin is enjoying a wonderful early October — it has been sunny with temperatures in the 70s and 80s and the fall colors are well advanced. My brother and I took advantage of the predicted weather to do something we've done many times over the years — head up the western shore of Lake Michigan and spend a few days walking, talking, sitting, reading, eating, and generally enjoying a very relaxing time. Because Fall weather is so unpredictable we never plan where and when to go very much in advance. This year we stayed in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and then made an easy trip back stopping in Port Washington and Cedarburg. The picture is from the beach at the place we stayed in Two Rivers for a couple of days. We essentially had it to ourselves — one of the advantages of a vacation taken after the start of the school year.

Caring for nothing

More from By Every Word:

“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair. . . . the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” — Dorothy Sayers, quoted in D. A. Carson, The Gagging of God (Grand Rapids, 1996), page 53.

Whether you want to or not

Via By Every Word:

“You will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.” — C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

"Good" and "nice" more to be desired than "smart"

What's more important, being smart or being good? Both would be desirable but if forced choose I'd much rather have good. From the The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll:

Tina Korbe at Hot Air:

To put it simplistically, “Smart is different than good.” For that matter, so is nice (h/t Stephen Sondheim). Character alone ensures intelligence, charisma or any other positive trait will be used in the service of the truth and the good.

The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll | magazine | Vanity Fair, Poll: Majority of Americans don’t know what “GOP” stands for « Hot Air

Special Revelation or special revelation?

An interesting conversation between Mark Driscoll and Douglas Wilson about spiritual gifts and cessationism (via Justin Taylor):

Diversity?

Doesn't diversity require discrimination? If there is to be a wide choice of available student affiliation on a campus doesn't that require that each group be allowed define itself — to create its own identity. Vanderbilt is a private school and thus freer to create its own orthodoxy but Rod Dreher explains why Vanderbilt's approach to diversity would, if followed consistently, result in something more like chaos:

"We are committed to making our campus a welcoming environment for all of our students," Vanderbilt University says. Which is, of course, bullshit. It's what institutions say when they wish to curtail the religious liberty of their students. It means that Vanderbilt is determined to be unwelcoming to traditional Christians, Jews, and Muslims, who, if they are faithful to the teachings of their respective religions, cannot morally affirm homosexuality.

According to the Nashville Tennessean, Vanderbilt is threatening to yank recognition from a dozen groups, including Christian groups, for not conforming to the university's diversity policy. The university's Christian Legal Society is one of those under the gun. From the newspaper:

The Vanderbilt chapter of the Christian Legal Society has rewritten its bylaws to include language that supports the university's diversity policies. But when Vanderbilt asked the club to remove a requirement that the group president lead Bible studies, the club drew the line.

"Our group will no longer be able to exist," said law student Justin Gunter, one of the chapter's leaders.

Understand what the university is requiring: that a group cannot set any conditions for the beliefs its leadership must hold.

This is crackpot stuff.

In principle, the university's gay rights group would not be able to require its president to affirm gay rights. As Colleen Carroll Campbell points out, "By the logic of Vanderbilt administrators, the Muslim Student Association must allow ultra-orthodox Jews to run its meetings." .... (more)

Meanwhile, on a Wisconsin campus, censorship targets a drama prof.

Once upon a time liberals on college campuses were champions of "sifting and winnowing" — of academic freedom — of the belief that if ideas were allowed to compete truth would emerge.

RealClearReligion - Vanderbilt U Hates Religious Freedom

Trinity XV: Relying on Thee

KEEP, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual mercy; and, because the frailty of man without Thee cannot but fall, keep us ever by Thy help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Thomas Cranmer]

NO man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. [Matthew vi]

I will awake the dawn!

My heart is steadfast, O God!
I will sing and make melody with all my being!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
Psalm 108:1-2, ESV

A gigantic hound!

The re-reading of a good book, however pleasurable, is never as enjoyable as the first time. Washinton Post book columnist, Michael Dirda, in this excerpt published in the Paris Review, describes an experience with which I completely identify. My elementary class also ordered those books and I must have read Conan Doyle at about the same age as Dirda:

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle, was the first grown-up book I ever read—and it changed my life. Back in the late 1950s, my fifth-grade class belonged to an elementary school book club. Each month our teacher would pass out a four-page newsletter describing several dozen paperbacks available for purchase. .... Lying on my bed at home, I lingered for hours over these newsprint catalogues, carefully making my final selections.

I had to. Each month my mother would allow me to purchase no more than four of the twenty-five- and thirty-five-cent paperbacks. ....

To this day I can more or less recall the newsletter’s capsule summary that compelled me to buy The Hound of the Baskervilles—as if that ominous title alone weren’t enough! Beneath a small reproduction of the paperback’s cover—depicting a shadowy Something with fiery eyes crouching on a moonlit crag—blazed the thrilling words “What was it that emerged from the moor at night to spread terror and violent death?” What else, of course, but a monstrous hound from the bowels of Hell? When I opened my copy of the book, the beast was further described on the inside display page:

A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish, be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog.

.... In the lowering darkness I turned page after page, more than a little scared, gradually learning the origin of the dreaded curse of the Baskervilles. At the end of the book’s second chapter, you may recall, the tension escalates unbearably. Holmes and Watson have just been told how Sir Charles Baskerville has been found dead, apparently running away from the safety of his own house. Their informant, Dr. Mortimer, pauses, then adds, hesitantly, that near the body he had spotted footprints on the damp ground. A man’s or a woman’s? eagerly inquires the great detective, to which question he receives the most thrilling answer in all of twentieth-century literature: “Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!” .... [more]

The passages above are excerpted from an excerpt from Michael Dirda's book, On Conan Doyle: Or, The Whole Art of Storytelling, that will be published later this year. "'When I was starting out as a writer,' P.G. Wodehouse once wrote, 'Conan Doyle was my hero. Others might revere Hardy and Meredith. I was a Doyle man, and I still am.' So, in fact, [Dirda writes] was I." Me, too. A part of what makes Doyle so attractive:

...Conan Doyle once named “unaffectedness” as his own favorite virtue, then listed “manliness” as his favorite virtue in another man; “work” as his favorite occupation; “time well filled” as his ideal of happiness; “men who do their duty” as his favorite heroes in real life; and “affectation and conceit” as his pet aversions. It should thus come as no surprise that Conan Doyle’s books are all fairly transparent endorsements of chivalric ideals of honor, duty, courage, and greatness of heart. ....

The Hound of the Baskervilles (with illustrations by Sidney Paget)

Paris Review – A Doyle Man, Michael Dirda

Angels and devils

Today, September 29, is observed by some Christian traditions in the West as Michaelmas [or the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels]. One site identifies Michael this way:

.... The name Michael signifies "Who is like to God?" and was the war cry of the good angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers. Holy Scripture describes St. Michael as "one of the chief princes," and leader of the forces of Heaven in their triumph over the powers of Hell. ....

A couple of websites I visit noted the day by posting on the subject of angels. Insight Scoop offers Peter Kreeft on "Twelve things to know about angels," and The Gospel Coalition offers Gregg Allison [of Southern Baptist Seminary] responding to this question:

Where have we gotten our theology about Satan, angels, and demons? It seems like many beliefs about Satan aren’t clearly defined in the Bible yet are held by many.

From Professor Allison:

Both the Old and New Testaments provide divine revelation about angels, Satan, and demons, so the earliest Christians developed their understanding of these spiritual beings from Scripture. Additionally, in their curiosity to know more about these creatures, these Christians also engaged in significant speculation about their nature, attributes, powers, identities, and functions. For example, Cyprian proposed a key reason for the fall of Satan: “When he saw human beings made in the image of God, he broke forth into jealousy and malevolent envy” and thus rebelled against God (Cyprian, Treatise 10.4. ANF 5.492). Keenly aware of the ongoing spiritual battle between angels and demons, the early church also speculated that every human being has a guardian angel who protects them from the onslaughts of evil beings (e.g., Origen, Commentary on Matthew, 13.5. ANF 10.478; Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 5.14. ANF 2.466).

More theological guesswork followed. ....

.... The greatest contribution to the early church’s doctrine of angels was made by Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite. (Based on the account of the conversion of Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, through the preaching of the apostle Paul [Acts 17:34], the church believed the writings attributed to a so-called Dionysius the Areopagite to be the works of this disciple of Paul. As a result, great authority was placed on them. It was not until the Renaissance that it was proved that the writings were actually penned by someone in the 6th century.) He offered an elaborate description of angelic beings, imagining them to be “superior” to human beings and nearer to God because of their “generous communion with the Deity” and their “total intelligence” (Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite, The Celestial Hierarchy, 4.2). Dionysius did not hesitate to describe in great detail the hierarchy that exists among the angels (Ibid., 6.2). Taking nine biblical terms—thrones, cherubim, seraphim, authorities, dominions, powers, angels, archangels, and principalities—that refer to members of the heavenly realm, Dionysius offered fanciful descriptions of each of these nine orders (Ibid., 7.1ff.). But he went far beyond what Scripture affirms about these titles and their functions.

Because of the influence of the theological works of Augustine and the authority that became attached to the writings of Dionysius, they exerted an ill-founded yet significant influence over key leaders of the church in the following centuries. ....

.... Moving closer to our time, the modern period was characterized by two important developments regarding the doctrine of angels, Satan, and demons. First, the more liberal elements within Christianity, displaying a bias against supernatural matters, treated the doctrine with benign neglect at best and with outright contempt at worst. ....

Karl Barth, more than anyone else, was responsible for this resurgence in attention. Barth saw the need to steer clear of two extremes: the modern tendency to dismiss the doctrine completely, and the historical tendency to engage in rampant speculation (Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, III/3, 369). In a discussion reminiscent of Barth’s, C. S. Lewis warned about the two extremes of error to be avoided when considering demons: “One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel and excessive and unhealthy interest in them” (C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, 9). If the former error typified the modern period as a whole, the latter more recently surfaced in our contemporary age as seen in the film The Exorcist (1975, 2000), the very successful Touched by an Angel television program (1994-2003), the nearly constant appearance of books dedicated to the topic of angels on The New York Times bestseller list, and in Christian literature, the staggering popularity of Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness (Crossway, 1986) and Piercing the Darkness (Crossway, 1988). These latter presentations of angels, Satan, and demons are fanciful construals of these spiritual beings that capture the imagination of biblically illiterate people and offer much speculation rather than solid portraits derived from the Word of God. .... (more)

St. Michael, the Archangel - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online, Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: Peter Kreeft: Twelve things to know about angels, You Asked: Where Do We Get Our Theology of Satan, Angels, and Demons? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

National Coffee Day

Castle

In this era of on-demand entertainment [through cable, Amazon, Netflix streaming, DVR, etc.] I no longer organize my week around favorite TV shows. I follow almost none. Even when I find something I enjoy I can never remember when it's on. I do like ABC's Castle and fortunately I can catch up on it whenever I like. S.T. Karnik writes about the new season here explaining clearly part of why I find it so appealing.

For those who haven’t seen the series, Castle is a semi-comical police procedural about a bestselling mystery author, Richard Castle, who gets himself partnered up with a beautiful female police detective in Manhattan to help solve crimes. The implausibility of the premise is no impediment to enjoyment of the show, as Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic are both a delight to watch as the central characters—their skill as performers is evident and easy to appreciate.

In addition, and even more importantly, the gaudy premise matches the show’s narrative style: it is a throwback to the great tradition of American surrealistic mysteries of the 1930s and ’40s. ....

.... In their way they conveyed a sense of American life as a realm of astonishing possibilities ultimately grounded in common sense, logic, and morality. It’s a form of fiction I enjoy greatly and which I think has much to recommend it.

Castle is in that tradition. A typical episode will begin with a bizarre murder, and then progress to the investigation of a series of quirky or downright weird suspects and witnesses, and other additionally bizarre clues, while the two lead characters work out matters from their personal lives and their powerful but largely unacknowledged attraction toward each other. It’s great fun, although the events of the show are serious and often have important implications, which the writers do a good job of bringing out. .... [more]

ABC’s ‘Castle’ Is Back on Its Surrealistic Track | The American Culture

Essential doctrine

Kevin DeYoung provides another of his good, brief, explanations of an essential doctrine:

If any doctrine makes Christianity Christian, then surely it is the doctrine of the Trinity. The three great ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—are all structured around our three in one God, underlying the essential importance of Trinitarian theology. Augustine once commented about the Trinity that “in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.” More recently, Sinclair Ferguson has reflected on “the rather obvious thought that when his disciples were about to have the world collapse in on them, our Lord spent so much time in the Upper Room speaking to them about the mystery of the Trinity. If anything could underline the necessity of Trinitarianism for practical Christianity, that must surely be it!”

Yet, when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, most Christians are poor in their understanding, poorer in their articulation, and poorest of all in seeing any way in which the doctrine matters in real life. ....

So in a few hundred words let me try to explain what the doctrine of the Trinity means, where it is found in the Bible, and why it matters. .... [go here for the "few hundred words"]

More, about Trinitarianism among Evangelicals from Justin Taylor

The Doctrine of the Trinity: No Christianity Without It – Kevin DeYoung

As others see us?

From St Thomas the Doubter Church, via James Kushiner:

Click on the image to enlarge it.

Marriage and divorce in America

It apparently takes an Australian to correct a widespread misunderstanding of American census data. "Do liberal states in the US really have lower divorce rates?":

In August of this year, the US Census Bureau released a report on divorce rates in the different states of America. It was widely reported in the media that people were more likely to divorce in the Bible Belt states than in the liberal northeast.

....[S]ome on the left had a field day using statistics about higher divorce rates in the Bible Belt. Here's an example:

...perhaps conservative Christianity and conservative religion in general are unable to provide a sound basis for marriage — that perhaps there are other, more secular foundations for marriage that conservative Christians are missing. What might they be? Well, an obvious possibility is treating women like fully autonomous equals in the relationship, something which conservative Christianity frequently denies.

...[T]hen I came across another statistic, namely that 28% of those divorced identified as conservative, 33% as moderate and 37% as liberal. It didn't make sense. If those in the liberal states have the lowest rate of divorce, then why do those who identify as liberal have a much higher rate of divorce?

So I went back to the original source. And to my surprise I found that the divorce statistics had been misrepresented in most of the mainstream media. It turns out that what was being compared was the number of divorces per 1000 people in each state rather than the number of divorces per 1000 married couples:

Rates throughout this report count the marital events reported in the past 12 months per 1,000 men or women in the population 15 and older. (p.2)

That wouldn't be significant if roughly the same number of people got married in each US state. But that's not the case. There is a much lower rate of marriage in the liberal north-east of the US....

So you might expect states with a higher rate of marriage to also have a higher rate of divorce. And that's how a representative of the Census Bureau explained the statistics:

Divorce rates tend to be higher in the South because marriage rates are also higher in the South," said Diana Elliott, a family demographer at the Census Bureau. "In contrast, in the Northeast, first marriages tend to be delayed and the marriage rates are lower, meaning there are also fewer divorces." .... [more]

So perhaps religious convictions about marriage do affect behavior after all.  And the most certain way to avoid divorce is to remain single. I, for instance, am unlikely to divorce.

Thanks to Joe Carter for the reference.

Oz Conservative: Do liberal states in the US really have lower divorce rates?

Henry Clarke

In the current issue of the Sabbath Recorder SDB Historian Nick Kersten notes the anniversary of a publication:

.... In 1811, the first official history of Seventh Day Baptists was published by Henry Clarke (the same Henry Clarke who proposed the formation of the General Conference), Copies of the book are still floating around in many church libraries, and would be worth a look. If you can't find a hard copy in a location near you, copies can be found on Google Books (books.google.corn) by searching for "Clarke History of the Sabbatarians."

A direct link to the Google Books copy is here. The full title, in true early 19th Century style, is A History of the Sabbatarians or Seventh Day Baptists in America, Containing Their Rise and Progress to the year 1811, with Their Leaders' Names, and Their Distinguishing Tenets. The silhouette is of the author, Rev. Clarke.

Homelanders

John Wilson at Christianity Today reviews Andrew Klavan's The Final Hour:

I shudder to think of all the books occasioned by the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I won't read most of them, but I did make time for The Final Hour, the concluding installment in Andrew Klavan's four-book Homelanders series, in which Islamic terrorists seek to wreak havoc. The teenage hero, Charlie West, is a winsome Christian and a pretty tough customer. In publishing jargon, this is Young Adult fiction (in the subdivision known as "boy books"), but the unadulterated intelligence of a superb suspense novelist is very much in evidence throughout.

The first book in the series [the story is continuous] is The Last Thing I Remember. The hardbacks cost around $10 and the Kindle editions about $8.00. I enjoyed them and I'm a bit older than the target audience.

The books apparently will be filmed. Klavan, indicates that the script adds a "sci-fi element" to his story:

...I’d already heard about the “sci-fi element.” I don’t know what it is, but I’m assuming it’s to avoid confronting the whole Islamo-fascist part of the story. That’s Hollywood, folks, and there’s not a thing I can do about it. But the creative team is top-notch, and I have high hopes they’ll make a good film notwithstanding.

Wilson's Bookmarks | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction, Homelanders in the Hollywood Reporter

The gift of rest

Jennifer Rubin devoted the first part of her interview with Sen. Joe Lieberman to his new book, The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath. From the interview:

.... He explains religious practice, but also his childhood memories and secular rituals (bringing flowers home on Friday), all of which cast Shabbat in a special light. He said that the title of the book — “The Gift of Rest” — is taken from the Talmud. “What started out as a commandment I experience as a gift. It wasn’t always that way. As a kid I wished I had gone to ballgames and theme parks with my friends.”

But as an adult he’s come to look forward to it and enjoy all of its pleasures. He writes in the book. “For me, Sabbath observance is a gift because it is one of the deepest, purest pleasures in my life. It is a day of peace, rest and sensual pleasure. . . . [I]t engages the senses — sight, sound, taste, smell and touch — with beautiful setting, soaring melodies, wonderful food and wine and lots of love.” He tells me that voters and his colleagues “know what I don’t do — work — but they don’t know what I do” on Shabbat. He wants to dispel the notion that Shabbat is “a day of denial or seclusion. It does of course have serious moments.” But, he says with a grin, “By and by we have a great time.”

His book conveys that far from a passive exercise, Shabbat, and the preparations before it, are jammed with activity — special meals, synagogue services, time with friends, reading for pleasure, walks and time with family. ....

Not everyone will follow all the Shabbat rituals and requirements, he says. But in writing the book, “I was just hoping you’ll start.” To that end he provides a listing at the end of each chapter of easy steps and activities you can adopt. (Turn off the BlackBerry. Go outside. Eat dinner in your dining room, rather than the everyday kitchen.) The book is not only for Jews, and many of the non-liturgical elements can be applied to Christian Sabbath worship as well.

The book also explain the rules and choices concerning breaking of Shabbat and when Lieberman has chosen to depart from his gift of rest. That, however, is not the focus of the book. It is rather a loving guide and inspiration to enjoy a day separated from our ordinary demands. The psychological and theological insight is that by excluding workday cares for one day, you find that the rest of your days become richer and more fulfilling. .... [more]

Joe Lieberman Interview (Part 1): The Gift of Rest - Right Turn - The Washington Post

Miracles and the existence of God

Via Justin Taylor, a quotation from C.S. Lewis's Miracles:

If this week I put a thousand pounds in the drawer of my desk, add two thousand next week and another thousand the week thereafter, the laws of arithmetic allow me to predict that the next time I come to my drawer, I shall find four thousand pounds.

But suppose when I next open the drawer, I find only one thousand pounds, what shall I conclude? That the laws of arithmetic have been broken?

Certainly not! I might more reasonably conclude that some thief has broken the laws of the State and stolen three thousand pounds out of my drawer.

Furthermore, it would be ludicrous to claim that the laws of arithmetic made it impossible to believe in the existence of such a thief or the possibility of his intervention.

On the contrary, it is the normal workings of those laws that have exposed the existence and activity of the thief.

Miracles and the Laws of Science – Justin Taylor