\u27Cause the Bible Told Me So

To The Editor: For years I have been entertained by letters calling attention to what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, masturbation, wine drinking, and kindred topics. Are these letter writers aware, I wonder, that the Old Testament condones smoking

All the colours of the rainbow.

Our perception of colour has always been a source of fascination, so it's little wonder that studies of the phenomenon date back hundreds of years. What, though, can modern scientists learn from medieval literature — and how do we go about it

Did Religion Make the American Civil War Worse?

If there is one sober lesson Americans seem to be taking out of the bathos of the Civil War sesquicentennial, it’s the folly of a nation allowing itself to be dragged into the war in the first place. After all, from 1861 to 1865 the nation pledged itself to what amounted to a moral regime change, especially concerning race and slavery—only to realize that it had no practical plan for implementing it. No wonder that two of the most important books emerging from the Sesquicentennial years—by Harvard president Drew Faust, and Yale’s Harry Stout—questioned pretty frankly whether the appalling costs of the Civil War could be justified by its comparatively meager results. No wonder, either, that both of them were written in the shadow of the Iraq War, which was followed by another reconstruction that suffered from the same lack of planning. [excerpt

Book Review: Encyclopedia of Christian Education

Kurian, George Thomas, and Lamport, Mark A. (2015). Encyclopedia of Christian Education (3 vols). New York: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8108- 8493-9 (e-book). 1665 pp. $340US This three-volume set is truly a monumental achievement. With more than 1200 articles filling its full-size, two-column pages, it will serve as an important reference work for years to come. Some might wonder if a market still exists for such an encyclopedia when one can find so much of what it contains on the internet for free. To wonder that would be mistaken. While, yes, one can quickly find an article on Comenius in Wikipedia, for example, one will not find one called “Armenia and Christian Education” or one for every other nation “… and Christian education” (one of the clear strengths of this set). For that matter, a Comenius scholar wrote the Comenius article here; the same may not be true of the Wikipedia article. And these examples are but two among hundreds of succinct articles that synthesize their topics accessibly in this beautifully-printed and bound set

Slavery\u27s End Deserves a 150th Celebration

As the 150th anniversary of the Civil War winds down toward its conclusion in the spring, it\u27s difficult not to look back on the four years of this sesquicentennial and wonder why it all seemed so lackluster. Unlike the centennial in 1961-65, Congress decided not to create a national commission. And President Obama took a pass on the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. But the most surprisingly lackluster remembrance was the one that just slipped by us - the 150th anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States. [excerpt

“Failure is Not Acceptable”: The Recollections of a Canadian in French Foreign Legion

I remember the day very well, a cold Tuesday in January 1989, and Pearson International Airport was bustling with travellers. I was amongst them, an inconspicuous 18-year-old middle-class Canadian boarding the plane as if it was a frequent occurrence. A seven-day vacation in France, that was the plan. I often wonder if I had known then what I do now—would I have boarded that plane? The trip lasted five years and it was no vacation, for within 24 hours of boarding the plane, I had become a member of the infamous French Foreign Legion. Life would never be the same again

Cartoons, Campaigns, and Bottle Caps

I can’t help but wonder what my AP U.S. History teacher, Robert C. Lemire, Jr., would say if he knew I was designing an exhibit on the Election of 1860. I get chills every time I crack open a book from the research stack on my desk; suddenly I can hear his college-style lectures all over again, drilling me about the differences between popular sovereignty and free soil. Who knew that after two years of being out of high school, the old curriculum would find its way back to me? I’ll have to shoot Mr. Lemire an email. [excerpt

The Thicket

As I scuff through the fallen leaves these days, I find my thoughts turning constantly to The Thicket, my former home in southern Indiana. Autumn will be arriving there, too, and I wonder what it must be like there now. Indian summer must bring dreams to the old place of all the years that have gone, and of the seasons past now. I wonder if it will ever be spring there again

The 115 GeV Higgs Odyssey

On his way home from Troy, Odysseus had arrived within reach of Ithaca when a great storm blew up. He was swept away, and only several years later was he able to return to reclaim his rights from the rapacious suitors, with the aid of his son Telemachus. Some wonder whether this epic is repeating itself, if the Higgs weighs 115 GeV. If so, are CMS and ATLAS cast in the role of Telemachus? In this paper, I first discuss how close to Ithaca LEP may have been, the fact that a 115 GeV Higgs boson would disfavour technicolour, its potential implications for supersymmetry, and finally the prospects for completing the Higgs Odyssey.Comment: 11 pages, 7 eps figures, Invited contribution to the CMS Bulleti