The Intelligelicals

No, it's not the name of a new Broadway musical, but a rather cute neologism concocted by the Japery to describe this growing breed of evangelical intellectual wannabes.

The best one can do is say it [evangelical access to and presence in academia] will steer the culture, shaping the law, government, and public policy on issues that....presently divide the hell out of Christians, especially ill-defined, fad-chasing, deracinated Protestant Evangelicals and other "post-confessionalists." Lacking ecclesial and political solidarity -- the latter ideally following from the former (though this is precisely what many people fear) -- one cannot expect to be able to do anything with "access" once one has it.

I knew there was a reason why I smell a fish every time I hear smart evangelicals talk. Except for Mark Noll.

The Beheading of the Blessed Prodromos

From St. Bede in the Office of Readings:

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace, yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptised in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptise the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

Cosby vindicated

Finally, to hear a Black American defend Bill Cosby from the left. Maybe there's hope for Black Democrats after all.

Cosby asked the chilling question: "What good is Brown " and all the victories of the civil rights era if nobody wants them? A generation after those major civil rights victories, black America is experiencing alarming dropout rates, shocking numbers of children born to single mothers and a frightening acceptance of criminal behavior that has too many black people filling up the jails. Where is the focus on taking advantage of new opportunities to advance and to close the racial gap in educational and economic achievement?

I'm a socially-conservative Asian-American Catholic who adores Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. Both men in their later years embodied the kind of humility, honor, and dignity that represents the true face of Black Pride. Unfortunately today, most black politicians on the left have no sense of cultivating masculine virtues in young black men, only the trite therapeutic ideologies of the Democratic Party. Kudos Juan Williams for trying to pull the ship back on course.

Madonna really needs to read this

On the contrary, without special studies and a firm formation in the Catholic faith, we would urge all Catholics to avoid the Kabbalah - it is a mixed bag of the occult and other elements contrary to the faith. Athol's reflections sort through the distortions introduced by the Lurianic Kabbalists to show the truths of the Catholic faith hidden in the Jewish mystical traditions.

The Association for Hebrew Catholics needs a much, much bigger megaphone. Read some mind-blowing typological exegesis on Eucharistic Adoration through the eyes of Kabbalah here.