We have posted about the financial troubles of The Kings College. The Christian college is on the brink of closing. Kings is currently located in Manhattan, but from 1955-1994 it existed in Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York. Nyack College […]
Commonplace Book #270
If you ask people only to pay attention–that is, to obey their super-egos all the time–they will almost inevitably resist. Attention is an imprisoning of the mind. If you don’t put attention to a higher purpose–one associated with absorption–the mind […]
Elite college prof: “affirmative action — though necessary — has inadvertently helped create a warped and race-obsessed American university culture”
Here is a taste of Tyler Austin Harper’s New York Times piece: “I Teach at an Elite College. Here’s a Look Inside the Racial Gaming of Admission.” Harper is a professor of environmental studies at Bates College. When I was […]
What is Bidenomics?
E.J. Dionne explains: President Biden might not seem like a revolutionary, but he is presiding over a fundamental change in the nation’s approach to economics. Not only is he proposing a major break from the “trickle-down” policies of Ronald Reagan, […]
Should academic departments have official positions on social and political issues?
Princeton historian David A. Bell thinks such official pronouncements are a mistake. Here is a taste of his piece at The Chronicle of Higher Education: Where does your English department stand on abortion rights? What does the School of Public […]
What is popular this week at Current?
Here are the most popular features of the week at Current: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Way of Improvement Leads Home blog: Here are the most popular posts of the last week at The Arena blog:
Ralph Reed’s Flip-Flop on Presidential “Character” and “Moral Leadership”
It seems Chris Christie now carries the mantle of the 1990s Christian Right
Commonplace Book #269
A less persuasive argument [for the creation of ethnic and race studies programs at universities] is rooted in the psychologistic language of identity politics. The demand to see oneself in the text easily reduces to narcissistically anti-intellectual twaddle, as anyone […]
College president delivers a graduate speech crafted by ChatGPT
After delivering a ChatGTP graduation speech, Wells College (Aurora, NY) president Jonathan Gilbralter said: “Before I end this address, I have a confession to make. I want to let you know that everything I just said was written by artificial […]
On the evangelical postal worker case, Supreme Court tells a lower court to take another look
Amid all the discussion of affirmative action today, the Supreme Court also made a unanimous decision on a religious liberty case. Here is Ariane de Vougue and Tierney Sneed reporting on Groff v. DeJoy, Postmaster General: The Supreme Court revived […]
David Brooks makes an argument for class-based college admissions
Here is The New York Times columnist in the wake of the Supreme Court ending affirmative action today: We’ve been debating affirmative action since I was in diapers, and increasingly the Supreme Court has gotten into this issue, and now […]
Evangelical roundup for June 29, 2023
What is happening in Evangelical land? French evangelicals speak-out about attempts to remove Christian holidays. New faculty at Fuller Theological Seminary. The Evangelical Olympics in Galicia. A new tool for worship bands. “We Will Rock You” as a Christian song. […]
Commonplace Book #268
At bottom, identity politics rests on problematic ideas of political authenticity and representation. These derive from the faulty premise that membership in a group gives access to a shared perspective and an intuitive understanding of the group’s collective interests. This […]
Not everyone at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference booed Chris Christie
Last weekend we called your attention to Chris Christie’s appearance at Ralph Reed’s Road to Majority. When the former New Jersey governor criticized Donald Trump’s leadership, the crowd booed. But Christie also had some fans in the pro-Trump stronghold. Here […]
Liz Cheney on American politics: “we’re electing idiots”
Idiot: “A foolish or stupid person.” Here is John Wagner at The Washington Post: Ex-congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) offered a blunt assessment of her former profession Monday night: “What we’ve done in our politics is create a situation where we’re […]
It is possible to teach and write at the same time?
Here is novelist Christina Lynch at LitHub: When I was hired for a tenure-track English professor position, a colleague said to me, “You’ll never write another word.” I was slightly offended, since I had at that point been writing professionally […]
Commonplace Book #267
Communities and neighborhoods are sites of political disagreement and contest just like every place else: “the grassroots” and “the people” are only more abstract and diffuse forms of the same imagery. They aren’t pure, and they don’t act with one […]
What’s a Uygher?
Here is Lawrence Ukenye at Politico: Republican presidential candidate Francis Suarez was caught unaware Tuesday morning by a radio interviewer’s question about alleged human rights abuses in China. When the Miami mayor was asked if his campaign would mention the […]
Historian: The 2nd Amendment was to make sure the U.S. would not have to deal with a Prigozhin-type invasion
Here is historian Noah Shusterman at The Washington Post: On Saturday, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, ordered his soldiers to withdraw from Ukraine and to instead set their sights on targets within Russia itself. First they took over Rostov, […]
Was Trump really impeached twice?
Yes. He was. But Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik don’t think so. No, really. They have introduced resolutions to “expunge” Trump’s impeachments from the historical record “as if such Articles of Impeachment had never passed the House of Representatives.” […]