The Service Patch - http://nyti.ms/K14BNp

“It’s worth noting that you can devote your life to community service and be a total schmuck. You can spend your life on Wall Street and be a hero. Understanding heroism and schmuckdom requires fewer Excel spreadsheets, more Dostoyevsky and the Book of Job.” - David Brooks, “The Service Patch,”  http://nyti.ms/K14BNp

Barth after Kant?

Just a note that an essay I wrote, “Barth after Kant?” is available as early release for the July edition of Modern Theology. Abstract as follows: 

Barth consistently comments on Kant’s importance for his early thought in his autobiographical sketches, letters, and even more explicitly in his 1930 lectures on Kant in his Protestant Theology in the Nineteenth Century. Interestingly, however, little attention has been paid to these latter lectures on Protestant history in the secondary literature. In part, this oversight has been due to the manner in which Barth’s theology has been thought to overcome Kant’s influence much earlier on in his intellectual development. Hence, although commentators such as Merold Westphal, Simon Fisher and Bruce McCormack have developed keen interest in Kant’s influence upon Barth’s early work, even engaging Barth’s Neo-Kantian context in great detail, my contention is that Barth’s later interpretation of Kant is crucial to his intellectual development, and gives further insight into Barth’s legacy for contemporary theology today. My aim in what follows is to refigure the relationship between Barth’s early appropriation and critique of Kant, and the more onto-theological issues at stake in his later Protestant history lectures. In so doing, we can begin to discern in Barth, not an abandonment or disregard for the metaphysical questions of being, but rather, the call to face them all the more rigorously.

The Trouble with Scientism: http://bit.ly/L5OsRB

The Trouble with Scientism: http://bit.ly/L5OsRB

The New Yorker on Cornell West:

‘West and Cone did a Q&A at a Princeton bookstore last winter, and afterward, they and a handful of friends and colleagues—including the journalist Chris Hedges, who wrote the Truthdig piece; Carl Dix, a local communist organizer; Brother Ali, an albino rapper; and a few professors—went to dinner. There, West was in his element. He had no one to provoke, and it was clear to see why some might compare West to Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. DuBois, or even Mark Twain. The conversation started with an appreciation of the works of novelist James Baldwin. “At Baldwin’s funeral,” said West, “I sat next to Stokely Carmichael. He’s a hard brother, and he cried like a baby.” West regarded Baldwin in the light of William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Amiri Baraka, and his friend Toni Morrison. Then the conversation took a turn, touching briefly on the works of the slavery historians ­David Brion Davis and Leon Litwack, and the civil-rights historian Howard Zinn, ­before resting for a time on Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr, the definers of ­twentieth-century Christian theology—both of whom taught at Union. About the literary critic Harold Bloom, West pronounced, “He’s not always right, but he’s always got something to say,” and then he veered straight through Martin Heidegger to praise his lesser-known disciple, Hans-Georg Gadamer.’ - Why Cornell West Can’t Seem to Find Love and Justice in His Own Life,” The New Yorker - http://bit.ly/L5OsRB

Returning to the Sermon on the Mount: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=126974

Returning to the Sermon on the Mount: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=126974

Hidden Costs of Low Book Prices: http://nyti.ms/I0vhuv

‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little thrill when I found out on Amazon that I could get an e-book version of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the No. 1 book on the New York Times best-seller list, for just $9.99. But after a week of watching the Justice Department and Amazon team up, I’ve learned that low prices come with a big cost. Maybe I’ll order it at my local bookstore instead.’ - http://nyti.ms/I0vhuv

This American Life on the Ten Commandments - http://bit.ly/IcTYm4

This American Life Radio Show on the Ten Commandments - http://bit.ly/IcTYm4

Is Facebook Making Us Lonely: http://bit.ly/ILbSOl

“The question of the future is this: Is Facebook part of the separating or part of the congregating; is it a huddling-together for warmth or a shuffling-away in pain?” “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely,” - http://bit.ly/ILbSOl

Vatican and Oxford Libraries Going Digital: http://reut.rs/HI7uzI

The Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (BAV) said on Thursday they intended to digitize 1.5 million pages of ancient texts and make them freely available online. - http://reut.rs/HI7uzI

On God, Bob Dylan, and the Holocaust

I’m teaching a class on religious ethics at the moment. I couldn’t bring myself to cover the usual set of topics about sex and gender, abortion, euthanasia, and the various “real” life questions in between. There are a number of ethics classes that deal with these kinds of topics across the university curriculum. What concerned me, chiefly, in a religious ethics class, was the question of theodicy, i.e. “Is God ethical?” I came across a recent Chronicle article on Bob Dylan and the holocaust, which reminded me of how difficult it can be to ask this question well.

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Religion in Schools

“During the service at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams said it was the wrong time to ‘downgrade the status and professional excellence’ of religious education in schools.” http://bbc.in/HVOlZr

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Fasting

I gave a brief interview with an ABC radio breakfast show this morning on the religious practice of fasting, or abstaining from food, alcohol, or sex for a period of time. It was a brief opportunity to comment upon Lent and Easter, but also to look at fasting across different religious traditions such as Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. 

On the one hand, I wanted to affirm that these traditions are rooted in unique cosmologies and beliefs about the nature of reality. They fast for different reasons and in nuanced and different ways as a result. However, this is not to say that we can’t find honest and productive ways to talk about some of the commonalities and overlaps in fasting practices in these different traditions. Strangely, I found a Coke-Zero advertisement which summed it up well.  

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The Thingy-ness of Books: http://bit.ly/HiUyyB

“Seriously, much is to be gained by ebooks: ease, convenience, portability. But something is definitely lost: tradition, a sensual experience, the comfort of thingy-ness, a little bit of humanity. Do you know what John Updike used to do the first thing he would get a copy of one of his new books with Alfred A Knopf? He would smell it. Then he’d run his hands over the ragged paper, and the pungent ink, and the daggled edges of the pages. All those years all those books he never got tired of it. Now, I am all for the iPad, but trust me, smelling it will get you nowhere.” –Chip Kidd: Designing Books is No Laughing Matter. Ok, it is. On TED: http://bit.ly/HiUyyB

RIPL PhD Scholarships

One of the exciting things about the new Religion in Political Life (RiPL) Research Program at the University of Newcastle is that it earmarks PhD funding for at least two excellent students in this growing area of international academic concern. Religion and Religious Studies at the UoN was ranked 4* in the last Australian Research Council Excellence in Research Assessment (ERA), which put it first equal with only three other institutions in the country. The research culture here is vibrant, growing, and the RiPL program provides us an opportunity to attract high quality PhD students to join us.

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Religion in Political Life Research Program

The University of Newcastle Faculty of Education and Arts‘ third internal funding round for Research Programmes opened in November last year and closed on 20 February 2012. Six bids were received and subjected to a thorough review from a Selection Advisory Panel. The Panel was unanimous in selecting two bids for funding in 2012-2013, one of which was on Religion in Political Life (RiPL). The bid was fostered under the auspices of the Group for Religious and Intellectual Traditions and included the shared research interests of its key members. The following is a brief summary of the program from the Faculty of Education and Arts Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Germov:

“Religion in Political Life (RiPL) led by Dr Tim Stanley and to be administered by the Humanities Research Institute. Religion in Political Life is a very focussed and well-honed programme, building on an acknowledged Faculty research strength that was rated a 4 in the first ERA assessment. The bid conveyed authentic intellectual reach having a sharp and sophisticated conceptual frame. The Panel noted that this bid was at the cutting-edge of contemporary European thinking and had the potential for international links. The interdisciplinary team—Dr Tim Stanley, Associate Professor Roland Boer, Professors Hilary Carey, Terry Lovat, and John McDowell, and Dr Kath McPhillips—has an impressive track record, with evidence of existing collaborations, and a demonstrated capacity to undertake the project and deliver high-quality outcomes.”

GRIT Events Sem 1, 2012

Over the course of the past year I’ve been convening the Group for Religious and Intellectual Traditions, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. It’s been a chance to collaborate with a brilliant group of scholars from across the Faculty of Education and Arts as well as coordinate research seminars and public lectures. Last year we ran seminars on a range of topics such as religion and empire in greater britain (Prof. Hilary Carey), the language of “soul” in the Hunter River Lake Macquarrie Language (Dr. Jim Wafer), Lenin’s appropriation of biblical literature (Roland Boer) and the gendered nature of sainthood with reference to Australia’s own Mary MacKillop (Dr. Kath McPhillips). We also promoted public lectures last year on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Prof. George Brooke, The University of Manchester) and biblical translation (Fr. Nicholas King, Universtity of Oxford). 

This year we’re hosting an excellent set of seminars on Religion and Politics (Prof. Marion Maddox), Religion and Economics (Prof. Paul Oslington) and Religion and Public Health (Dr. Craig Dalton).  We’re also promoting a new set of public lectures. Here’s the schedule with links to fliers:

Seminars (hosted in the Auchmuty Library Cultural Collections):

• Tue, March 13, 3.30-5pm, Prof. Marion Maddox “Religion and Politics: How Powerful Is the Christian Right?”
• Tue, April 17, 3.30-5pm, Prof. Paul Oslington “Religion and Economics: Adam Smith as Theologian”
• Tue, May 15, 3.30-5pm Dr. Craig Dalton “Gross National Happiness in Bhutan: Piloting Contemplative Practice in Australian Public Health”

Public Lectures:

• Tue, May 29, 6-7.30pm, at Christ Church Cathedral, Dr. Timothy Stanley “Morpeth Lecture: Theology between Religion and Politics”
• July (venue and dates TBC) Prof. Barry Kosmin “The American Religious Landscapt Today” For further details on this lecture please contact Prof. Hilary Carey.

Lessons in Medieval Manuscript Illumination: http://nyti.ms/A42syi

For Children, Lessons in Medieval Manuscript Illumination: http://nyti.ms/A42syi

Charles Taylor Interview: http://bit.ly/AAAs5I

Charles Taylor interview on his new book, Secularism and Freedom of Conscience: “The original model of secularism was one in which a very dominant religious group had to fight with other kinds of tendencies. That was the situation in France in the 19th century but it doesn’t at all describe modern-day Canada or the UK. The kind of secularism [advanced in the book] answers the question, ‘How do we live together?’” - http://bit.ly/AAAs5I

The cost of homelessness: http://bit.ly/ySAORx

The cost of homelessness: “We learned that you could either sustain people in homelessness for $35,000 to $150,000 a year, or you could literally end their homelessness for $13,000 to $25,000 a year,” he said. - http://bit.ly/ySAORx

The Atheist Fatwa?? http://bit.ly/xUQMw4

“De Botton finds it bewildering, the unexpected appearance in the culture of a tyrannical sect, content to whip up a mob mentality. ‘To say something along the lines of “I’m an atheist; I think religions are not all bad” has become a dramatically peculiar thing to say and if you do say it on the internet you will get savage messages calling you a fascist, an idiot or a fool. This is a very odd moment in our culture. Why has this happened?’” - “The God Wars,” The New Statesman http://bit.ly/xUQMw4