I watched the first few episodes of “Salvation” after looking through Amazon Prime for something to watch on the elliptical at the gym as there are only so many podcasts you can listen to and YouTube lectures you can watch before you need a break. The first four episodes are online, and it’s worth a look […]
More Recent Reading
Nancy MacLean, Democracy in Chains: A conspiracy theory trashing the intellectual legacy of 1986 Nobel Laureate James Buchanan. Note the lack of a link: this book will worsen your understanding of the world rather than improve it. James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent: Societies are comprised of individuals who have to make […]
Who Were Buchanan’s Influences?
If nothing else, Democracy in Chains has sparked new research into Buchanan’s intellectual family tree. I didn’t think there were any more Pokemon to catch in “Democracy in Chains,” but I just caught a few new Omittisaurs (thanks, Daniel J. Smith, for pointing to chapter 15 of “Economics from the Outside In”). P. 163, discussing […]
When God Is Silent, It Might Be Because He Has Already Spoken.
Immanuel Church elder Matt Waldrep once posted this on Facebook: “It is no aid to anyone to simply state that we ought to pray for God’s will to be done in a circumstance about which he has already spoken plainly in his word, especially if there is an implicit call to action for you. Yes […]
“Hocus Pocus Charles Kochus” Is Not An Argument
Inside Higher Ed runs an article on the Koch conspiracy narrative from defenders of Democracy in Chains. So far, there are no attempts to engage with critics who have pointed to the book’s crippling flaws of interpretation and analysis. It’s just repetitions of the “hocus pocus Charles Kochus” spell from the little-known forthcoming volume of […]
An X-Prize Proposal: Can You Falsify Darwin?
As a Christian, I find myself increasingly dismayed with the anti-science or pseudo-science that pervades a lot of theological discourse. I was refreshed when I read Dinesh D’Souza’s What’s So Great About Christianity? In particular, I enjoyed his chapter on the theory of evolution in which he stated that it is perhaps reasonable to infer […]
Dry Clothes Are A Capitalist Achievement
It was wet. It was cold. It was miserable. It was New Year’s Day and we just got home from church and lunch out with friends. Birmingham was a rainy, chilly mess, and it was not the kind of day where people want to spend a lot of time outdoors. As I changed out of […]
Recent Reads
“Recent” as in “I read these in early March.” Tyler Cowen, The Complacent Class. This is a depressing volume from a self-described optimist. It’s a useful exploration of trends in productivity given that it’s easy to focus on the sector that is most dynamic (information technology). Elsewhere, Cowen has discussed other sectors—government, schooling—where productivity is […]
The Plague of Contented Mediocrity
In February 2015, Leroy Butler gave a speech at Samford University on “Diversity in Missions.” It raises unique challenges at a University that was only integrated in the late 1960s and that is still overwhelmingly white and overwhelmingly affluent. I wasn’t surprised but I was frustrated to see that from my vantage point, it seemed […]
Taking a Three-Year-Old to Tunica: A Reflection
We moved from Memphis, Tennessee to Birmingham, Alabama in 2012, and I had to go back to Memphis to take care of a few things earlier the week. I decided I would take my then almost-four-year-old son, Jacob, so we could spend some time indulging his greatest passion: riding elevators. After a few minutes with […]