Bit of a bumper edition this August – to help you while away the long idle hours of the summer…
Sacred Treasure
- A FASCINATING article in the latest Themelios by Don Carson on the ins and outs of polemical theology. Was especially struck by Bryan Magee’s insights into Karl Popper’s debating approach. And while we’re on it, it’s just fab that TGC have resurrected Themelios.
- The Lord’s Supper on the Moon – in case you missed it (improbably amidst the (well-deserved) moon hype), Buzz Aldrin took communion while on the moon.
- Defacing the Bible: is this art? You decide… (HT Dimity G-F)
- Rod Liddle (former editor of Radio 4’s Today programme) has a brilliant sideswipe at the atheist nay-sayers opposed to Thought for the Day. But not for the reasons you might expect. Here is a taste:
The first problem, though, is that Thought for the Day is secular already. God is almost never allowed to poke His nose into a broadcast and when He does His appearance is heralded with apologies and embarrassment. He does no smiting, He is never angry, no matter what issue comes before Him. The God you hear in Thought for the Day has been created by BBC producers and made in their image — a slightly disappointed but nonetheless benevolent middle-aged man of confused sexuality who wishes that everybody might live together peaceably in a warm and caring multicultural society, m’kay? A middle-aged man not terribly convinced as to whether he exists or not.
Topical Treasure
- And while we’re on the subject of the moon landings, check out this awesome 1969 retraction in the New York Times after its 1920 assertion that the notion of rockets flying through a vacuum was palpably absurd.
- And this ingenious spoof from Slate V on how the US media might have reported the Moon Landings if they’d happened in 2009:
- Fascinating article in Time about Bush & Cheney’s last days in office and the internal battle over a Presidential Pardon for Scooter Libby. Bush seems to have had good instincts about the corrupt nature of the whole Pardons process (viz-a-viz Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich).
- Evocative photo-history of Obama’s journey from the Senate to the White House by photojournalist Pete Souza
- Charlie Booker has an interesting take on the lack of trust in institutions (HT Stephen Beer)
- This is truly scary: US Fox News (accidentally?) somewhat rearranged Middle Eastern geography earlier this week (HT Mediamatters):
- Fascinating interview with Iain Sinclair about the late J G Ballard (HT Islingtongue>Leytonstongue)
Quirky Treasure
- What happened when United Airlines wrecked a Canadian country singer’s guitar… Nice.
- Stuck for ideas of what book to read next? Check out The Book Seer
- Playful dolphin wouldn’t let NZ woman swim to shore.
- This is fantastic: Bach’s Suite No 1 for solo Cello – played on a 6-stringed bass guitar by bass genius Martin Motnik (HT Steve Lawson for putting me onto this).
