NOTE: I was not much of a fan of Frederick Buechner, a writer who died last week at 96. I tried his quartet of novels about a semi-charlatan-but-maybe-a-saint preacher in Florida, but Buechner lost me with his character’s name, Leo Bebb, which is bar none the most uneuphonious & off-putting monicker in my experience of … Continue reading Frederick Buechner: Religious Novelist
Sri Lanka Collapsed First, but It Won’t Be the Last New York Times By Indrajit Samarajiva — Aug. 15, 2022, Mr. Samarajiva is a Sri Lankan writer who publishes at his blog Indi.ca. As a Sri Lankan, watching international news coverage of my country’s economic and political implosion is like showing up at your own … Continue reading Sri Lanka: What Goes Around Is Coming Around?
Russia and Ukraine step up propaganda war Gwynne Dyer10:50, Aug 15 2022 “This obviously does not happen because of a thrown butt,” said British Defense Minister Ben Wallace. But the Russian Ministry of Defence insisted that the explosions that destroyed at least eight warplanes at Saki Air Base in Russian-occupied Crimea on August 9 were … Continue reading Gwynne Dyer: Who Blew Up the Russian Airplanes in Crimea?
Washington Post, 08/18/2022: Fresh off her Kansas victory, Rachel Sweet heads to Kentucky to fight an antiabortion ballot measure Kansas voters surprised everyone when they overwhelmingly rejected an antiabortion ballot measure earlier this month. Now Rachel Sweet, the campaign manager behind that abortion rights victory in Kansas, has been hired to lead a similar effort … Continue reading Abortion Updates: from Kansas to Kentucky, Florida & More
J. Deotis Roberts, a pioneer of Black theology, dies at 95 Washington Post — August 16, 2022 By Harrison Smith August 16, 2022 The night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, the Rev. J. Deotis Roberts was attending a conference at Duke University, listening to German theologian Jürgen Moltmann present a paper on the … Continue reading Obits: Music & Theology: J. Deotis Roberts & Butch Thompson