9 Things You Should Know About Martin Luther King, Jr. - The Gospel Coalition Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Others doctrines such as a supernatural plan of salvation, the Trinity, the substitutionary theory of the atonement, and the second coming of Christ are all quite prominent in fundamentalist thinking. 7. 8. 9. Other posts in this series: 9 Things You Should Know About Poverty in America 9 Things You Should Know About Christmas 9 Things You Should Know About The Hobbit 9 Things You Should Know About the Council of Trent 9 Things You Should Know About C.S. 9 Things You Should Know About Orphans 9 Things You Should Know about Halloween and Reformation Day 9 Things You Should Know About Down Syndrome 9 Things You Should Know About World Hunger 9 Things You Should Know about Casinos and Gambling 9 Things You Should Know About Prison Rape 9 Things You Should Know About the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing 9 Things You Should Know About the 9/11 Attack Aftermath
How America Double-Crossed Russia and Shamed the West The conditionality of the Soviet Union’s agreement to allow East Germany to be taken by West Germany and for the Cold War to end, was that NATO would not expand «one inch to the east». This was the agreement that was approved by the Russian President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, a great man and a subsequent hero to democrats around the world. He agreed then to end the Soviet Union and abandon communism and thus to end the entire Cold War; he agreed to this because he had been promised that NATO would expand not «one inch to the east,» or «one inch eastward,» depending upon how the promise was translated and understood — but it has the same meaning, no matter how it was translated. He trusted American President George Herbert Walker Bush, whose friend and Secretary of State James Baker made this promise to Gorbachev. He was even promised by the United States that «we were going to make them a member [of NATO], we were –observer first and then a member». «Mr.
Embracing Death, Celebrating Life: Reflections on the Concept of Martyrdom in the Order of the Knights Templar - Medievalists.net Detail of a miniature of the burning of the Grand Master of the Templars and another Templar. From the Chroniques de France ou de St Denis, BL Royal MS 20 C vii f. 48r Embracing Death, Celebrating Life: Reflections on the Concept of Martyrdom in the Order of the Knights Templar Joachim Rother (Bamburg) The 1991 Ordines Militares colloquium in Toruń (Poland) was dedicated to the topic of spirituality in the military orders,1 but even 20 years later Kaspar Elm’s statement from that colloquium’s published proceedings still rings true: “The results of research conducted on the military orders in this field have been very limited thus far.” Although research on the concept of martyrdom during the era of the Crusades has gained considerable prominence, it has rarely been applied to the Knights Templar. Click here to read Joachim Rother’s: Embracing Death, Celebrating Life: Reflections on the Concept of a Martyrdom in the Order of the Knight’s Templar.
Ritmeyer Archaeological Design | …for the latest research, analysis and products on Biblical Archaeology Monuments to Liberty Did Thomas Paine write the whole of Rights of Man, and if not, what does that mean for our understanding of the French Revolution? Published: 16 September 2015 “Fashion before Ease – or – A good Constitution sacrificed for a Fantastick Form”, 1793, by James Gillray We hope you enjoy this piece from the TLS, which is available every Thursday in print and via the TLS app. Also in this week’s issue: Carol Tavris on the cultural histories of plucking and nakedness; Leo Robson on the Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien; the future of television; Tessa Hadley’s past; Magna Carta – and much more. Here is a familiar outline account of the French Revolution, long established and echoed in various forms in many textbooks. The French troops who served in America during the revolutionary war learned lessons about the practice and principle of liberty. To English-speaking observers it seemed that the story must in its essentials be true Rights of Man certainly achieved canonical status.
Jimmy Carter’s Legacy. Human Rights in the Abstract versus “Shameful and Indefensible Foreign Policy Positions” “Carter was the least violent of American presidents but he did things which I think would certainly fall under Nuremberg provisions,” said Noam Chomsky. Much like Nobel Peace-prize winner Barack Obama 30 years later, Carter was an advocate of human rights in the abstract, but of repression and imposition of power through violence in practice. Like the current occupant of the White House, Jimmy Carter entered office with a promise to respect human rights, but failed miserably when given the opportunity to do so. Carter just last month published a memoir about his “Full Life.” Others have begun to look back at his four years as President. Macaray lists 10 accomplishments which were, indeed, impressive. However, the self-professed advocate for human rights demonstrated quite the penchant for bloodshed. 1. After the CIA-sponsored assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961, Mobutu Sese Seko ruled as dictator for 16 years – changing the name of the Congo in 1971 to Zaire. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Fortnight For Freedom: The Catholic Roots of the Declaration of Independence | The American CatholicThe American Catholic My bride and I each year travel to Indianapolis for the Gen Con gaming convention which this year will be held on the last week in July. Indianapolis is a lovely city and we have enjoyed our visits there. Back in 1926 an Indianapolis parish priest, John C. Rager, demonstrated that the core of the Declaration of Independence has its roots in Catholic thought. It will suffice for our purpose to consult, in detail, but two Catholic churchmen who stand out as leading lights for all time. Equality of man Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. Bellarmine: All men are equal, not in wisdom or grace, but in the essence and nature of mankind (De Laicis, c.7) There is no reason why among equals one should rule rather than another (ibid.). St. The function of government Declaration of Independence: To secure these rights governments are instituted among men. St. The source of power St. The right to change the government
Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) Hellenes and Romans in Ancient China (240 BC – 1398 AD) By Lucas Christopoulos Sino-Platonic Papers, 230 (August, 2012) Introduction: Following the death of Alexander the Great, a large number of his soldiers were forced to remain in the Asian fortified cities of Bactria and northwest India in order to control the occupied territories. These new colonies of the East appealed to migrants, many of them artists or mercenaries from Greece, during the reign of Alexander’s successor, Seleucos. The independent kingdom of Bactria claimed by Diodotes gave rise to a distinctive culture that mixed Persian, Indian and Greek elements, and its later expansion eastward eventually had a great impact on the Chinese world. In this article I have assembled elements from historical texts, archaeological discoveries and research from other scholars in order to establish the links between these civilizations. Click here to read this article from Sino-Platonic Papers Want more medieval?
Catholic Sources and the Declaration of Independence The general historical background, which projected the American Declaration of Independence, is well known. There has been much discussion, however, concerning the parentage, direct and indirect, of the political principles that make the American Declaration what it is, that most wonderful work ever struck off at a given moment by the hand and purpose of man. Two facts concerning this question, this paper hopes to restate and summarize rather than prove. They are: First, the certainty and fact, beyond reasonable denial, that for many centuries prior to the American Declaration, the principles enunciated in it are identically the political thought and theory predominant and traditional among representative Catholic churchmen, and not the political thought and inspiration of the politico-religious revolt of the sixteenth century, nor of the later social-contract or compact theories. Striking parallels Equality of man St. The function of government St. The source of power St. Prof. The Contents
James Otis, Jr. James Otis, Jr. (February 5, 1725 – May 23, 1783) was a lawyer in colonial Massachusetts, a member of the Massachusetts provincial assembly, and an early advocate of the Patriot views against British policy that led to the American Revolution. His catchphrase "Taxation without representation is tyranny" became the basic Patriot position.[1] Early life[edit] Writs of assistance[edit] John Adams promoted Otis as a major player in the coming of the Revolution. The four tracts that he wrote during 1764–65 to protest British tax measures reveal contradictions and even intellectual confusion, says Ferguson. Otis did not identify himself as a revolutionary; his peers, too, generally viewed him as more cautious than the incendiary Samuel Adams. Patriot and pamphleteer[edit] Otis suffered from increasingly erratic behavior as the 1760s progressed. Unique in his era, Otis favored extending the basic natural law freedoms of life, liberty and property to African Americans. Death[edit] References[edit]
Did the Enlightenment cause a global decline in violence? Has the modern age seen a widespread decline in violence due to an awakening of western thought and culture in the 17th and 18th centuries? The author and neurobiologist Steven Pinker famously argued exactly that in his celebration of the Enlightment, The Better Angels of our Nature. Last week, in The Guardian, the author John Gray published a long article arguing that Pinker is wrong. So, who's right? Here are the points I would make. 1. As evidence of our much lower threshold of tolerance for violence, Pinker points out that in the Middle Ages, cats would be burned alive for popular entertainment. More Perspectives Paul Waldman The motives of Ben Carson Ryan Cooper The hypocritical persecution of Chelsea Manning At the same time, it is hard to look at the horrors of the 20th century and not think that there is more to the story. It's easy to see how an increase in squeamishness would make many kinds of violence unacceptable — but how it would facilitate others. 2. 3. According to the U.S.
How to Gird Up Your Loins: An Illustrated Guide If you’ve read the Bible, then you’ve probably come across the phrase “gird up your loins.” I’ve always thought it was a funny turn of phrase. Loins….heh. Back in the days of the ancient Near East, both men and women wore flowing tunics. Around the tunic, they’d wear a belt or girdle. While I’ve had a vague notion of what it meant to gird up your loins, I’ve always been curious how exactly you do it. Yea, now go forth. Illustration by Ted Slampyak
The Dark Age Myth: An Atheist Reviews “God’s Philosophers” Browse > Home / Book Reviews / The Dark Age Myth: An Atheist Reviews “God’s Philosophers” My interest in Medieval science was substantially sparked by one book. Way back in 1991, when I was an impoverished and often starving post-graduate student at the University of Tasmania, I found a copy of Robert T. Gunther's Astrolabes of the World - 598 folio pages of meticulously catalogued Islamic, Medieval and Renaissance astrolabes with photos, diagrams, star lists and a wealth of other information. I had another experience of that particular pleasure when I received my copy of James Hannam's God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science a couple of weeks ago. The Christian Dark Age and Other Hysterical Myths One of the occupational hazards of being an atheist and secular humanist who hangs around on discussion boards is to encounter a staggering level of historical illiteracy. The Origin of the Myths God and Reason Galileo, Inevitably Written by Tim O'Neill
Galileo was Right—But So Were His Critics | Catholic World Report - Global Church news and views An interview with Dr. Christopher M. Graney, author of "Setting Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science against Copernicus in the Age of Galileo" Giovanni Battista Riccioli (left) and Galileo Galilei (right) are the main characters in the new book "Setting Aside All Authority, written by Dr. Ever since the seventeenth century, the celebrated “Galileo affair” has been one of the featured items on the list of dark moments in the history of Catholicism. For anti-Catholic historians and polemicists the episode is but the most obvious instance of the supposedly perennial conflict between religion—often enough Catholicism specifically—and science. But what if this typical portrayal of the heliocentric debate is almost entirely wrong? That’s the claim of Dr. CWR: One of the blurbs on the back cover calls it “the most exciting history of science book so far this century.” Graney: Your comment about obscurity reminds me of my wife dubbing me “Riccioli’s agent.”