The ongoing “gay marriage” debate is interesting not only in it’s own right but also (I wonder if more importantly) because (as I’ve pointed out before) it serves as a profoundly accurate barometer for how our society conducts debate on big issues. A good example of this dynamic is an article in this weekend’s smh, “Parents […]
Warning – some spoilers As the Ouldlets get oulder I, once again, get to enjoy watching a film or two as we take long intercontinental flights, such as last Thursdays 8 hour hop from Singapore to Sydney. On the advice of a good friend I started with 500 Days of Summer, which I can heartily […]
Canonwired have posted up the videos of Doug Wilson‘s lectures and Q&A earlier this year (April) in Bloomington, Indiana. There’s a lot of material here but it’s all well worth it. 2 lectures, around 45 and 35 minutes respectively and then a massive 2 hours of Q&A. I can’t embed them here so go watch them. […]
Can you guess what the vote might be over? Of course you can! The New Zealand Herald has the story: Proposals being considered by the Anglican Church could see gay marriage services carried out in churches by gay priests. Bishops and priests are to vote on proposals covering the blessing of same-sex civil unions, the […]
One of the discussions going on within the Christian blogosphere in Australia (at least, the bits that I’m reading) is the extent to which we ought to be opposing “gay marriage” legislation, even if we’re oppose the concept in principle. For a good example of the “live and let live” approach, here’s John Dickson at […]
A brilliant editorial by Gerald Bray in the current Churchman, one of the most astute reflections upon Rowan Williams I’ve read in a long time: “A double-minded man” [pdf]. Evangelicals have never warmed to him, partly because he is too different in temperament and interests to have much appeal to them, and partly because his […]
The following video ran at the end of the Australian Christian Lobby’s recent webcast, “Defining Marriage“. I missed the broadcast, being on a plane, but hope to get some viewing in over the next few days. Here’s the “Marriage Act” video. The Marriage Act from whatismarriage on Vimeo. Clever. I think I’d want to focus […]
The BBC Reith Lectures are always stimulating. Yesterday I listened to a great one by Niall Ferguson entitled “The Darwinian Economy“. The transcript is here. There’s lots of good stuff on the current economic crisis. Ferguson states his basic thesis: In my view, the lesson of the 1970s is not that deregulation is bad, but that […]
Finally we’ve got a study on this topic that begins to provide meaningful results. Science Direct have the text of “How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? Findings from the New Family Structures Study” (pdf here). Here’s the abstract: The New Family Structures Study (NFSS) is a social-science data-collection project that […]
From the New Oxford Review back in December 1994. Writing the history of a religious institution involves understanding concepts and language within their historical and cultural context. Otherwise, the risk is taken that history will be rewritten to suit current preoccupations. Boswell’s attempt to prove that the Byzantines regarded adelphopoiesis as a form of marriage fails because […]
