Leah Libresco's Blog, page 14
March 1, 2017
Lenten disciplines draw on our weakness, not our strength
The most aggravating thing I’ve given up for Lent was jaywalking. I’m from New York, originally, and it’s habit to step into the road regardless of whether the light is green for me. Jaywalking was a good discipline for me because it’s clearly not a very big sacrifice. There’s no way for me to think [Read More...]
January 5, 2017
I’m speaking about my conversion in Denver!
The archdiocese of Denver is running a special season of Theology on Taps this spring on “Why I am Catholic.” I’ll be kicking off the series this coming Monday, January 9th, with “Arriving at Amen: An Atheist’s Conversion to Catholicism.” If you’re in Denver, or have a friend in Denver, let me know if you’ll [Read More...]
January 2, 2017
Books on deck for me for 2017
Getting married meant I read a lot fewer books this year than usual. According to my Goodreads account, I read 195 books this past year (that comprised a total of about fifty-eight thousand pages). And eleven and a half of those were books I specifically set out to read in last year’s Books on Deck post. (Ok, [Read More...]
The post Books on deck for me for 2017 appeared first on Unequally Yoked.
December 2, 2016
My Favorite Books of 2016
These are my favorite books I read for the first time in 2016 (here’s last year’s list). Well, technically, my favorite books I read from December 2015-November 2016, since I always put this list together in time for people to grab Christmas gift ideas. And, if you’re looking for other book recommendations from me, you [Read More...]
The post My Favorite Books of 2016 appeared first on Unequally Yoked.
September 30, 2016
The Boring, Quiet Rituals that Sustain Us Spiritually
When I worked as an instructor at the Center for Applied Rationality, a lot of our curriculum on cognitive biases felt secretly virtue ethics-y: Here’s how small choices you make (including ones about what environments you exist in) shape your big choices and who you grow up to be. I really enjoyed reading James K. [Read More...]
August 10, 2016
Theology nerds (who are also generally nerds) come to Toronto!
I had a great time last year at Doxacon DC, a day of talks, revelry, and occasional cosplay for people who are deeply interested in both Christianity and fantasy/science fiction. So I’m thrilled to tell you that I’ll be the keynote speaker this fall for Doxacon Toronto (and that my now-fiancé, then-husband will be giving [Read More...]
July 28, 2016
Dissecting the Catholic Vote for FiveThirtyEight
Over at FiveThirtyEight, I’m taking a close look at a recent Pew survey of religious voters. More mass-going Catholics are planning to vote for Clinton than planned to support Obama four years ago, but it’s not because Clinton won them over: Catholics who attend Mass weekly have increased their support for the Democratic nominee by [Read More...]
July 26, 2016
My Good Catch Catches Them All
I’ve gone to Poland to speak at World Youth Day, so, in the meantime, I’ve got a few good posts from my fiancé to recommend. He’s been alternately playing Pokemon Go and writing about the way its reenchanting the city for players. Even though I’m not playing, I’m still enjoying all the people I run [Read More...]
July 25, 2016
Starving Laypeople of Devotion in Church
I just wrapped up (and really enjoyed) Eamon Duffy’s The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England, 1400-1580. One of the themes that jumped out at me were the ways laypeople were pushed aside during the English Reformation. Although Protestant reformers were ostensibly giving power to the ordinary people of the parish (though translations of [Read More...]
July 13, 2016
Rational Faith: More working hypothesis than logical proof
This month, Patheos asked bloggers to contribute to a Public Square symposium on the question “Is Faith Rational, Irrational, or Arational?” Since I used to work teaching Bayesian statistics for the Center for Applied Rationality and I’m now a statistician for FiveThirtyEight, I’m coming down firmly on the “Rational” side of this trilemma. But “rational” [Read More...]
