My presentation from the Faith, Film, and Justice Conference in Seattle has now been published in The Other Journal. “Fearless Speech, Courageous Eyes: A Theological Engagement with Freedom of Expression” was occasioned by the documentary Burma VJ which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the role of video journalists who documented the “Saffron revolution” in Burma…
This week I was invited to give the homily in the Coram Deo chapel service at Indiana Wesleyan University, which I post below. ____________________ Is There Room for Martyrs in our Church? James K.A. Smith Coram Deo Chapel | Indiana Wesleyan University | 18 October 2009 Introduction I recently had opportunity to enjoy a kind…
Near the end of Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979), Richard Rorty suggests a distinction betwee the philosopher as “epistemologist” and the “hermeneutic” philosopher. (Later this becomes a Kuhnian distinction between philosophers who play at “normal science” and those engaged in “abnormal” discourse.) The philosopher-as-epistemologist plays the role of cultural overseer and arbiter of…
Smoke [1918] By Carl Sandburg I sit in a chair and read the newspapers. Millions of men go to war, acres of them are buried, guns and ships broken, cities burned, villages sent up in smoke, and children where cows are killed off amid hoarse barbecues vanish like finer-rings of smoke in a north wind….
As I’ve just noted over at The Church and Postmodern Culture, a Korean edition of Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism? has just appeared from Sallim Books. Follow the link to access the new Preface for this edition. A Korean translation of Introducing Radical Orthodoxy is also in the works.
I find myself stuck home today, ill, and unable to go into the office. But today was designated for grading a set of papers on Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations–my copy of which is in my library at the office. But lo and behold, a quick search turned up a treasure: the entire, definitive German-English edition of…