Potpourri

Link 1

This is a very fine little bit of pseudo-journalistic reflection that I heartily recommend to you all. It is entitled The Summer Next Time and occupies itself with pondering why it is that new crops of PhD’s are constantly minted when the academic life is quite demanding. This author’s solution? It is because academics are free to structure their own time. But, the piece really gets interesting when the author relates this notion with the condition of laborers in the 19th century, whom prove to be an interesting comparative study.

Link 2

Here is another fun little pseudo-journalistic piece. Entitled Snakes on the Brain, this author wonders why humans have such a widespread and intense reaction to snakes. Answer? Human eyesight developed from the need of Old World Apes to identify poisonous snakes in their surroundings. I, for one, hate snakes of all shapes and sizes and plan on avoiding the recent Kino hit, Snakes on a Plane, for the entire duration of my life.

Link 3

Thus spake Zarathustra? The Zoroastrians certainly think so. Read about them and the imperiled state of their religion: Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling

Link 4

Those of us who are acquainted with the contemporary state of higher education should get a kick out of this. A Little Learning Is an Expensive Thing. Here is a teaser from the author: "When I was a college president, I was never able to give incoming freshmen the honest talk I wanted to. But had I done so, here’s what I would have said..."

Heads-Up

Patrik, who has recently completed his “Ideas For a Theology of Decline”, is beginning a new series entitled, “Reading Tillich.” In these series, he will be occupied with, well, reading Paul Tillich, specifically Tillich’s Systematic Theology. So, go check it out. Also, check out my own mini-series on Tillich. You can find it on my Index: Serials page. I may have to dig through my copy of Tillich's Systematic Theology and add to my mini-series. We shall see.

Fun Tidbit

A philosopher friend of mine recently remarked that he liked schools with both philosophy and theology departments, so that he "can flirt with the queen while banging the help!" I am witholding judgment on this remark, but that doesn't mean that you have to. Please feel free to make use of the comments section of this post (yes, they work now!) to register your varying degrees of disgust or delight.

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