Philo is a professor at a large state university, a paradigmatically Alexandrian institution, who doesn’t fit the standard mold. He’s a Christian, which is rare in academia, worried about the state of the church and trying to reconcile faith and reason. He’s a conservative, which is even more rare in academia, often disgusted but often amused at the political leadership in the United States and other democracies. He’s also an amateur musician and an animal lover. You might say he has a lot of cats; he prefers to think of himself as living in an animal shelter.
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I enjoyed all of your comments. I was enlightened to know that ours is an “Alexandrian institution.” I’d like to hear more about that. Your comments about both the stewardship sermons and the S-CHIP family selection were right-on. Recently I’ve been interested in the “politics” of one of our graduates–namely, Jenna Bush. How much of her “success” as the author of a book whose proceeds are going to charity is simply window-dressing to make up for her earlier sins/embarassments to the White House?
The quotation from Jacques Barzun is from his article, “Look It Up! Check It Out!” which originally appeared in The American Scholar and was reprinted in his book The Culture We Deserve.
Do you ever say things like “Hook em’ stillers”
Would you comment on what strikes me as a terrible article by Gary Wills, in the L.A. times, Nov. 4, that there can be no religious argument–”Abortion isn’t a religious issue” against abortion? I do not know your views, but that piece seems to be to exceed by far the usual “fallacies per paragraph” (fpp) quota, by some margin.
Pauly
My allegiance to the Steelers goes back so long that I can’t confuse it with anything else!
Thanks for bringing the Wills article to my attention. I’ll do a post on it. You’re right—it has a surprisingly high fallacy quota—and most of the fallacies strike me as blatant, of a kind to which few first-year college students would succumb. It’s also disorganized. It would earn at best a C in intro. philosophy!
Professor Phil:
Can you write up something about N. Rescher? It’s rather “off-blog” but I wonder if: a. you’ve spent much time with him; b. why he decided to become a Christian–and a Catholic one at that; c. what is “pragmatic idealism” and how that relates to his Christianity?
I like that you are trying to “reconcile faith and reason”.
I would love to have you on my radio show. Please contarct me.
You can find the radio interview here.
I would like to have you on my show again. Can you contact me please?
Silvio
Definitely love your blog. I can always appreciate someone who’s got plenty of insightful things to say, isn’t afraid of speaking their mind from their point of view, from their religious or political background.
I had not heard this term “Alexandrian period” before. I find the ability to sum up an entire state of a nation quite impressive. My own writing has taken me off the shores of the US, but I have delved into the changing mores of a society and seen them from the inside. Having done this, I remain confident that history will repeat itself. http://www.bentpage.wordpress.com.
Phil,
If you want to add Facebook or email sharing buttons to your blog posts, there’s a plugin that does it for you:
http://tinyurl.com/sharebuttons
Hope you find it helpful!
Cheers,
Jerry
I wish you would add an e-mail subscription widget, but I resolved my issue with that by writing here
(since there is a “send me updates” option at the bottom).
Great writing, enjoying it!
I had just written an article for my blog about Isaiah 2:2-5 in which he says swords will be made into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks when I saw your post on Instapundit. It fit in so well. Peace accords try to make peace by agreement, but peace will only come through the intervention and will of God. We can do everything we want but our nature is still the same: grasping, selfish and warlike. The will of God cannot be mandated by government intervention, by law, by charity or by agreement. It can only be mandated by the will and effort of God. We cannot give it. Only he can. Thanks for the comment.
I believe in the union of faith and reason, and I do adore the Alexandrian. I do believe you’ll be the first predominantly identified-Christian blog I follow. *click!*
Found your site via a search on Locke and Rousseau. I’ll be keeping up.
Philo, Your blog is an absolute delight – erudite and incisive. Even the comments I read expressing disagreement are not the emotional screed so prevalent in other sources.
If I submitted some of my writing to you, would you do me the undeserved favor of critiquing it and mentor me on how to get published? I haven’t the time to start my own blog but am very interested in submitting work for consideration upon refinement.
Thank you.
Thanks for the kind words! Yes, I’d be delighted to read anything of yours and give you comments and advice.
I Want My Country Back isn’t a Republican or Conservative catch phrase like the MainStreamMedia makes it out to be. Democrats and Republicans both suffer offensive TSA “pat-downs,” foreclosure, bankruptcy and disappointment with their elected “officials.”
It’s about freedom, not black, white, left or right. Without freedom, you can’t be anything, not even a songwriter or a blogger.
With respect to Reynold’s Law, you may be amused that I print and distribute bumper stickers that are simply this:
Liberty >> Equality
(for non-math geeks, “>>” reads “is much greater than”)
Thank heavens there’s still one of you teaching history that’s not convoluted! So glad you are there. That Zinn is used in classes … well, makes my blood pressure go up!! Keep up the good work!