Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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New religion and politics center started at Wash U
John Danforth delivering the homily at Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004 (Screen capture: C-SPAN) The New York Times broke the story on the formation of this new center yesterday, named for one of our state’s most distinguished senators, John C. Danforth, who is also an ordained Episcopal priest. Washington University announced the center in a…
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Advent 3 · Zephaniah 3:14-20 · December 13, 2009
By Gerhard Bode Throughout the Church Year the church rejoices in the gracious coming of Christ to itself in the Word of God and in the sacraments. Yet during the season of Advent the church applies the teaching of God’s Word in a unique way as it also prepares for the commemoration of our Lord’s first…
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"A Serious Man": the Coen brothers’ retelling of Job
I recently saw A Serious Man, the Coen brothers new film, at the Tivoli. In between an opening prologue of a Yiddish folk tale and a truly stunning ending is the story of Larry Gopnik, a middle-class
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Advent 2 · Malachi 3:1-7b · December 6, 2009
By Wallace Becker This is the Old Testament reading for Advent 2. “He comes.” Prepare for his coming. The reading from Malachi says that God will send his messenger to prepare the way for the Lord’s coming. The Gospel reading from Luke 3:1-20 describes the work of John the Baptist as the fulfillment of this prophecy.…
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Public confession as "atonement": Mark McGwire, Andre Agassi, and now Tiger Woods
Will he talk or won’t he? It’s a question St. Louis sports fans have been talking about for weeks now. The “he” in question is the new hitting coach for the baseball Cardinals.
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Advent 1 · Jeremiah 33:14-16 · November 29, 2009
By Joel D. Biermann Thoughts from the text So, it begins again: another church year, another Advent, another Christmas shopping season, another winter … another time of waiting. Waiting through the dark days of early winter seems an ideal time to turn to the prophet Jeremiah for relevant words. The man knew something about waiting. Even…
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Proper 29 · Mark 13:24-37 · November 22, 2009
By Joel D Biermann Considerations in relation to the text 1. There is no doubt about the theme for this Sunday’s text. Every Scripture reading for the last two weeks has been swelling the volume and intensity of the message until today’s two readings conspire to fairly scream the theme: the eschaton is coming—the return…
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The Velvet Revolution, Vaclav Havel, and Stanley Hauerwas…20 years later
The New York Times did a nice retrospective yesterday on Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution on its 20th anniversary. I was 15 years old when the Berlin Wall fell along with all the other Eastern Europ
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Proper 28 · Mark 13:1-10 · November 15, 2009
By Timothy P. Dost Introduction In this text Jesus encourages his disciples—and us—to look not to present things, no matter how externally impressive, but rather to find our hope in Christ, who has sent his Holy Spirit to defend us even in the greatest difficulties. These difficulties are the preparation for the Gospel, which will be…
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