How did the word “mercenary” get a metaphorical sense and a literal one? It started in classical Latin, says the OED, long before English was a twinkle in the Celtic eye. Mercenarius back then could refer straightforwardly to a soldier paid to serve in another...
Mark Ward
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I Spy
Find the Russian spy on this page. I am using invisible e-ink to write half of this blog post.
Religious Liberty
The Supreme Court recently voted 5–4 to keep a Christian campus group at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco from barring non-Christians from their group, homosexuals specifically. I’m decidedly against alarmism, but I believe this is quite a serious matter....
Radio Carbon Dating vs. Radio Carbon Courtship
From an advice column at CNN.com: I have been dating my boyfriend for about three months. We get along great and he would do anything for me. We just have one problem. He doesn't believe in evolution and I very passionately do. We got in a discussion about it, which...
Narnia Story 3
Before the first Narnia film came out, I was very skeptical. I simply did not believe that non-Christians would get it right. Narnia is suffused with a Spirit they do not know. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe managed to exceed my low expectations, but it still...
Count the Biblical Allusions in This Sentence
From a Chronicle of Higher Education article on the future of libraries now that Google Books is here: As someone with experience in print and electronic publishing, Darnton is seeking "common ground" between the Luddite jeremiad and come-to-Jesus...
The JEC at YDS
I'm at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School for a week taking a course on Edwards' Religious Affections. It's been fun and informative, especially our time viewing Edwards' manuscripts and our class discussions—which I had the honor of starting the...
Soccerball
Opinionator at NYT: Soccer is "a game that teaches you that life is unfair. Because goals are so scarce, it is possible for a team to be outplayed for 89 minutes and yet still score one fluke goal and win the game. Superior performance often does not translate into...
Beautiful Father’s Day Article for My First Father’s Day
Read it; it’s about a father who went to war—World War II—and was deeply affected by it. I just read Stalingrad on my Kindle, a fast-moving and terrifying account of one of the most famous portions of WWII. Now I’m on to 1776, also on the Kindle. What a gift and...