A more eligible Nobel prize candidate
on Nov 21, 2009 in Malalai Joya Noam Chomsky ‘The Nobel Peace Prize committee might well have made truly worthy choices, prominent among them the remarkable Afghan activist Malalai Joya. This brave woman survived the Russians, and then the radical Islamists whose brutality was so extreme...

The Lord of the Rings: the 1940 version
on Nov 20, 2009 in Humour JRR Tolkein This parody of The Lord of the Rings by O. Sharp is very clever, not least because it came out some 14 years before Tolkien’s book was published. It stars Humphrey Bogart as Frodo Baggins, Sydney Greenstreet as Gandalf, and Marlene Dietrich as...

Einstein on ‘God’
on Nov 20, 2009 in Albert Einstein A letter that Richard Dawkins was an unsuccessful bidder on sold at auction in May 2008 for a meagre £170,000. The item in question was penned by Albert Einstein in January 1954, just a year before his death, and was addressed to philosopher Erik Gu...

… he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing
on Nov 19, 2009 in Money This relatively well-known photograph by Carl Purcell reminded me not only of Matthew 6:24, but also of Wisdom 13:1–19, ‘For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen t...

Žižek on Apocalypse, on the Future, and on Obama
on Nov 18, 2009 in Apocalypse Barack Obama Future Slavoj Žižek In an earlier post, I suggested that few will embrace every element of Žižek’s compassionate-Marxist panacea, but that his analyses of history’s big movements nevertheless remain insightful, often compelling, and usually fascinating. I̵...

Why universities welcome theological colleges
on Nov 18, 2009 in Karl Barth Theological education Today’s Eureka Street includes a piece by Neil Ormerod on ‘Why universities welcome theological colleges’. He concludes with this warning: The movement [of theological education] to the university sector of course restores the ancie...

Slavoj Žižek on liberalism, fundamentalism and the true Left
on Nov 17, 2009 in Fundamentalism Liberalism Marxism Slavoj Žižek With my lectures for next two weeks (basically) written, I’ve turned to some fun reading: namely, Slavoj Žižek’s latest book, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce. It’s an unsurprisingly-passionate critique of contemporary capitalism p...

Hegel, Religion and Politics
on Nov 14, 2009 in Conferences Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel The Hegel Society of America has issued a call for conference papers that ‘investigate or problematize in new ways and in new connections the intersection of religion and politics in Hegel’s philosophy’. The deadline’s not unt...

Slavoj Žižek on capitalism, communism and anti-Communism in Post-Wall Eastern Europe
on Nov 12, 2009 in Slavoj Žižek The latest LRB includes a fascinating reflection on capitalism, communism and anti-Communism in Post-Wall Eastern Europe by Slavoj Žižek. It’s well worth reading the whole piece, but here’s the conclusion: … maybe post-Communist d...

3 feet under with no snorkel …
on Nov 11, 2009 in Blogging     The paucity of regular blogging is an indication that it has been one of those weeks. The next 2-3 aren’t looking much better I’m afraid, after which time our regular blogging service will continue … Lord willing. Sorr...