Henry Muhumuza

A simple guide on mindfulness meditation, a practice which has been shown to have benefits on physical and mental health. It is a practice that has been common in eastern traditions for centuries and is increasingly being adopted in western contexts. I think it's useful in today's world of constant stimulation.

Read Hopkins Medicine guide →

Adam Gopnick in this New Yorker piece CRITIQUES the person of the Apostle Paul. His language clearly depicts the irreverence of an atheist. I found it a bit unsettling and yet interesting. There is something I respect about an argument detached from the emotions created by affiliation.

Read the New Yorker Piece here →

Bill Gurley on the All-In podcast argues that Anthropic's CEO, Dario Amodei is narcissistic enough to think their labs are actually creating God. He references a blog post by Anthropic called 'Machines of Loving Grace', a suspicious title, reminiscent of a similarly titled 1967 poem by Richard Brautigan. The last stanza of the poem says, ‘I like to think of a cybernetic ecology where we are free of our labors, and joined back to nature, returned to our mammal brothers and sisters, and all watched over by machines of loving grace.’ Interesting take! It really cuts down to the question of whether consciousness can be created by human hands. And whether consciousness requires a soul. I've grappled with these questions myself.

See the X post →

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 →

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 →

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) →

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 →

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 →

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 →