Author: James K. A. Smith

Forget Bono! Shaine Claiborne and friends are campaigning for “Jesus for President.” I’m intrigued to hear what they have to say.

Am I the only one who found this a tad ironic? MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow’s commitment to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday. [Read complete story here] A U2 lyric comes to mind: “Would you deny…

My downward spiral into (truly) conservative sympathizer continues: I find myself nodding in agreement, even muttering a couple of quiet “amens” when I read David Brooks’ column on “The Republican Collapse.” In it Brooks pens a litany of all the ways that American neoconservatism fails to be properly conservative, and knows nothing of Edmund Burke…

I often chide “Christian” music which simply takes whatever pop form is currently commercially successful (say, boy bands or Britney-like pop tunes) and then merely substitutes “Christian” lyrics. I like to refer to this as ramping up the “JPMs”–the “Jesus-per-minute” factor. The strategy is one of naive sanctification–as if “holy” lyrics somehow save or redeem…

The NYT provides a harrowing account of one of Blackwater’s episodes of “going ballistic.” A must read.

As I indicated on my first ever post, this blog is offered in homage to John Ruskin’s 19th-century experiment, Fors Clavigera. I was thus delighted to find that the Google book project has made one of the volumes available online.