Assistant Village Idiot

Reposted from 15 and 10 years ago. Well knock me over with a feather. The commonly-told explanation for the early Christians choosing th...

It looks like T99 really shone around here in 2011. Not only the inspiration for the post, but a good corrective in the comments. ******** T...

Republished from 2011, inspired by the comments about appropriateness for children under the "Train Songs" post. I recall when Jon...

Because it came up in the Chesterton comments, I bring this forward from June 2011. I was going to make some of these points in the comments...

You should pay attention to the sidebar of commenters' blogs on your own, of course, but sometimes I like to highlight one.  I don't...

Somewhat accidentally, I have recently encountered an essay by Brian McLaren, portions of Rob Bell’s farewell address, and half a chapter of...

The recent “tweet of the year” in conservative circles was quite clever, and I don’t want to take too much away from it by being too lite...

Sponge-headed Scienceman reports on a Rice University study revealing that 17% of atheists attend church at least occasionally, most of the...

On The North River , a blog from or near Pembroke, MA, is unhappy with the new UCC hymnal, and the loss of the old Pilgrim Hymnal. There a...

I am a fan of Steven Pinker's thinking and writing.  Well, the first third of every chapter of his writing, I should say.  I don't k...

We finished week 4 of thirteen today. What I have learned, in no particular order. I am increasingly convinced the South Galatian theory...

National Geographic's September issue has an article on the fertility rate dropping precipitously in Brazil.  While the increase in inco...

It may be all parts, not just Part I.  But just in case. I was tempted to call the post Sniveling Sells to make fun of his book title Lov...

Reposted from July 2010. Nothing new to see here, but folks might like the review. Creationism and Politics There are some interesting prac...

New Harmony , Indiana, was founded by the Harmony Society, a German utopian, socialist, anarchist, pietist,,,well, you get the idea - group ...

Ben Quash and Michael Ward edited Heresies , a series of sermons on many of the early heterodox opinions in the church and why certain doctr...

My son's department at The Woodlands United Methodist Church has uploaded a series of videos. These are not solo projects of Ben...

I couldn't get away from memorialising 9/11 today. There was even a good-sized section cut into the worship service. The emotions are ...

I am finishing the last of the pile of used books I bought Ben for his birthday - one figures that out of six, at least a couple will suit -...