Volume > Issue > New Oxford Notes: January-February 2012

New Oxford Notes: January-February 2012

Shameless Shepherding

Bishops in Germany have taken an embarrassingly long time to learn that: "We cannot earn money during the week with what we preach against on Sundays."

READ MORE ON THIS NOTE.
Saints for a Secular Nation

Secularism could be said to be our national religion, with its own pantheon of "saints," including the newly "canonized" Steve Jobs, founder of Apple and perfecter of the glowing handheld idol.

READ MORE ON THIS NOTE.

You May Also Enjoy

That Incomprehensible Mystery at the Heart of All Things

Like Oedipus, we humans are prone to suppose that we can understand all things on earth — perhaps in heaven also — and can thereby control them.

Lust

As Dostoevsky, among others, kept reminding us, when people regard God as dead, anything and everything becomes permissible (protected by this or that amendment).

The Fault of Being Nice

While love is strong, niceness seeks the path of least resistance, declines to the lowest common denominator, and minces words.