…respected professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, reviews two books that attempt to reconcile science and religion: Karl Giberson’s Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (HarperOne, 2009) and Kenneth Miller’s Only A Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America’s Soul (Viking, 2009). Coyne’s own contribution to the conversation was also just published, and its title is self-explanatory: Why Evolution…
…e classroom! Reframing Scopes is a light, enlightening, educational and engaging read. Check it out. Visit our RDBook page for more reviews, and interviews with authors……
…is Stanley Fish’s recent New York Times blog post, “God Talk,” in which he reviews literary critic Terry Eagleton’s new book Reason, Faith, and Revolution. Therein Eagleton has an important row with the amalgamous personage he has termed “Ditchkins” (Richard Dawkins + Christopher Hitchens), decrying their confusion of categories between faith and reason. While I appreciate Fish’s take on Eagleton’s take on Ditchkins (and sympathize with the anger…
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…advanced academic credentials and educational experience. In their expert reviews, Kracht, de la Teja, and Hodges offer reasonable suggestions for curriculum updates; while the other three offer suggestions that reveal a bizarre political agenda of extremist ideology and biblical exceptionalism. For instance, Barton (former vice-chairman of the state GOP, and a Republican National Committee operative) said that Texas children should no longer be…
…in’s testimony seems like another washed out politician on the big screen. Reviews of the movie have been scathing from most critics. When the film screened in Pella, Iowa in June, Palin came dressed like a miniature Ronald Reagan in jeans with a big belt buckle with a red cross. Working the crowd, Palin gave a short, seemingly touching stump speech at the end of the film’s showing. Lately, though, Palin has been more interested in wearing her fai…
…the past I have avoided the soapbox and have depended on writing scholarly reviews and well researched books to make my points. But indignation has spurred me to declare the ethical basis of my book, a declaration I might never have thought to make if it had not been attacked as being not “Christian” enough. If The Woman Who Named God is not a “Christian” book then what is Christianity? Aren’t love and understanding of those who are different from…
…Crumbulated Genesis. A Certain Crumbitude The unspoken assumption in most reviews I’ve seen is that the latter is the more interesting phenomenon, or at least the more important one, with the greater cultural stakes. As others (including Robert Alter, whose translation undergirds most of Crumb’s text) have commented, Crumb’s illustrations quite literally flesh out the biblical stories, giving face and form—and nipples, backsides, lips, teeth, and…
…haped policies. For the most part, however, you’ll find balanced and sober reviews of these books in a variety of print and online sources. (Good examples are Marilynne Robinson’s review of The God Delusion in Harper’s, William C. Placher’s Christian Century review of Hitchens’ contribution. Stanley Fish’s blogs in the New York Times on atheism are interesting.) Today’s Atheists: Yesterday’s Angst Among the many things associated with the progress…
…opy is discreetly circulating and being watched on little screens with headphones, and reviews cut out from newspapers appear on the bulletin board, surrounded by exclamation points. Some of the monks here met Father Christian. One has a picture of him on his desk. Most of them remember praying for him and the others after their disappearance. I leafed through an overflowing file of news clippings and communiques between the order’s abbots from th…
