Pieces on faith, wellness, and culture.
Health and Wellness
Mindfulness Meditation WELLNESS
Faith
Mysterious Happenings Around the Time of the Crucifixion HISTORY, FAITH
It is widely reported across many cultures that pagan magic declined, oracles lost powers to
divinate (the obsolescence of oracles) at round the time of the Crucifixion. One user on X
posted, "All magic requires sacrifice to work. Christ, the ultimate and perfect sacrifice, made
all the rest of them powerless.
Rene Girard talks of this as well." Rabbinic history also reports that events indicative of the
supernatural in Judaistic worship markedly reduced in frequency . For example, during the
holiest day of Yom
Kippur, the phenomenon of the lot for God always rising in the right hand of the
High Priest (an
auspicious sign) stopped. Could that have been an indicator of an end to the need for
ritualistic
sacrifice for the atonement of sins as was the case in the old convenant?
Read the thread on X →
Read the paper on the Obsolescence of Oracles →
Read the thread on X →
Read the paper on the Obsolescence of Oracles →
Luther in 1520: Justification by Faith Alone THEOLOGY
Howard Griffith discusses Luther's sola fides—justification by faith
alone—in this essay from Reformed Theological Seminary's journal. A smooth, pleasant, yet
exhaustive read on Christianity's most important doctrine.
Read the article →
Read the article →
The History of Luther's Doctrine of Justification THEOLOGY, HISTORY
Academic paper examining how Luther developed the doctrine of
justification by faith alone (sola fides). It traces the theological and historical
context that shaped Luther's thinking. For those
interested in the intellectual foundations of the Reformation, this is essential reading. Dense
but rewarding.
Read the paper (PDF) →
Read the paper (PDF) →
Arts and Culture
Mila left her philosophy studies to become a bricklayer. VIDEO DOCUMENTARY
The title pretty much tells it all. The YouTube channel Passe-moi les jumelles
has a number of other interesting videos too.
Watch the video →
Watch the video →
Is It Wrong to Write a Book with A.I.? WRITING
Joshua Rothman draws parallels between the 1980s birth of synth music and the use of A.I today
in the creative process of writing. Just a snippet; "Prestigious producers maintained that,
while
drum machines
might be useful during the songwriting process, they shouldn’t appear on
completed recordings. Many listeners felt that, on some fundamental level,
electronic music was simply wrong—that it was a form of deception and
cheating, that it was destroying music itself." Interesting piece.
Read the New Yorker article →
Read the New Yorker article →
Are Genuine Movie Stars Being Born Again? FILM
From Glen Powell to Zendaya—are we witnessing the rebirth of actual movie stars? I read this two
years ago and haven't forgotten the comparison between "square-jawed hunks like Sam Worthington
in Avatar and skinny teenager Timothée Chalamet."
This BBC piece is lighthearted and humorous. Fun read that stays with you.
Read the BBC article →
Read the BBC article →
Read Hopkins Medicine guide →