Leah Libresco's Blog, page 31
April 6, 2015
Help me pack books for my trip Down Under!
Wednesday afternoon, I’m getting on a plane for New Zealand. I’ll be speaking at the Auckland Eucharistic Convention and doing a Theology on Tap in Sydney. It’s a very long series of flights, plus my mom (who’s travelling with me) and I like to walk in parks and pause to read when we travel, so I [Read More...]
March 31, 2015
I’ve taken a job at FiveThirtyEight!
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve started working this week at FiveThirtyEight. I’m a news writer, so most of my pieces will be shorter, news cycle-driven pieces on data angles in the stories of the day. I like to read “data” a little broadly, so I’m as excited to write about choices of methodology as [Read More...]
March 30, 2015
Even a Small Saint is an Urgent Need [Saints Bookclub]
In 2015, I’m reading and blogging through Ronald Knox’s collection of sermons on Christian exemplars, Captive Flames: On Selected Saints and Christian Heroes. Every Monday, I’ll be writing about the next portrait in the book, so you’re welcome to peruse them all and/or read along. In this week’s chapter, Ronald Knox sets up St. Edward the Confessor [Read More...]
March 29, 2015
Learning Fellowship from Mary
Before I picked up Denise Bossert’s Gifts of the Visitation: Nine Spiritual Encounters with Mary and Elizabeth, I had run into a very short meditation on Mary’s visit to Elizabeth on a friend’s tumblr. the first christian and the first person to make a declaration of christian faith the visitation is so important. 2 pregnant women, caring [Read More...]
March 28, 2015
Preparing for Holy Week [Radio Readings]
You can listen to “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and tomorrow (Sun) at 1pm. I’ll update this post when the episode is available to download and stream. Every week, I put up a “Radio Readings” post, so you can track down the books, articles, and (this week) failed Lenten penances [Read More...]
March 27, 2015
7QT: Matched! (Donations, Fiancé(e)s, and Symmetries)
— 1 — Here’s a heads up — the women who write at A Queer Calling are running a GoFundMe to raise money to train a service dog for Sarah (who has fast-progressing Meniere’s Disease). I think some of you read their writings on hospitality, affection, vocation etc, so you may want to help them out. I [Read More...]
March 22, 2015
Some Tools for Failing to Live Perfectly Well
Richard Beck of Experimental Theology had an interesting post up recently about purity and anxiety in progressive Christian circles. I’ve excerpted it below: [T]his “will to purity” doesn’t just manifest in protecting sacred beliefs, it manifests in behavior as well. Both evangelical and progressive Christians doggedly pursue a vision ofmoral purity.For evangelical Christians moral purity will fixate on hedonism (e.g., sex, [Read More...]
March 21, 2015
How Do We Talk About Heaven and Sin? [Radio Readings]
You can listen to “Fights in Good Faith,” my weekly radio program, streaming today at 5pm ET and tomorrow (Sun) at 1pm I’ll update this post when the episode is available to stream and download on demand. Every week, I put up a “Radio Readings” post, so you can track down the books, articles, and (this week) adorable experiments [Read More...]
March 20, 2015
7QT: Saturn’s Rings, Visiting Nurses, and Tests for the Nearly Dead
— 1 — I’ve got a special weakness for clever methodology, and I loved this set up from an article on near death experiences (the protocol was informed by the frequency of NDE people reporting being near the ceiling looking down): All involved placing some stimulus—a picture or a symbol on, say, a piece of [Read More...]
March 19, 2015
Why Not Refer to ISIS by an Epithet?
Patheos doesn’t have any site-wide style guide for bloggers, but, over at The Friendly Atheist, Terry Firma announced a style change that will apply to that blog, specifically. The contributing bloggers over there are going to stop referring to ISIS as ISIS, ISIL, the Islamic State, or anything else except Daesh. Here’s the passage Firma quoted [Read More...]
