Sunspots 34

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Article by theologian Nancy Pearcey, arguing that Intelligent Design is a respectable movement.

The latest issue of Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, the journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, an organization of Christian scientists (which will not be available on-line for over a year) has a two-part article which claims that Pearcey, and Phillip Johnson, have misread history. The author, Kenneth E. Hendrickson, (or possibly the editor -- this is from the initial summary of the articles) writes that "Proponents of the Intelligent Design Movement identify themselves principally as scientific thinkers working to remove philosophical bias from modern science, especially evolutionary biology. A review of their popular literature . . . shows that their arguments rest heavily upon historical, not scientific critiques. They are less concerned with science itself than they are with the impact of science on culture. They enter the debate with desired cultural norms pre-selected as the conclusions of their arguments." ("Historical Method and the Intelligent Design Movement: Part I: Intelligent Design Movement as a Foray in Secularization Theory," 57:284-291, Dec. 2005. Quote is from p. 284.) He also writes that "IDM publicists like Phillip Johnson or Nancy Pearcey do not offer a well-rounded assessment of the recent intellectual history of the West." (Part II: A Historical Critique of a Historical Critique," 57:292-300, Dec. 2005. Quote is from p. 292.)

Rebecca is simply quoting the Westminster catechism, which is almost entirely simply quoting the Bible, on the question: "What is God?" The result is profound.

Thanks to Catez Stevens at Blogwatch, who found "Is There Mental Illness in the Bible?" a solid post on that subject (that is, were there mentally ill people described in the Bible?).

Thanks to tudogs, I discovered that you can enter, in Google's image search, something like "clip art butterfly," and (surprise!) clip art representing a butterfly will be shown. Warning: some (maybe most) of what is returned may be copyrighted and not for free use.

Thanks to the Librarian's Internet Index, a web page from the Health Department of the State of New York, offering a rather thorough document on becoming an egg donor. (I just report these things -- I'm not recommending that anyone do this, or, for that matter, suggesting that you never should. I can't, of course!)

Web page on Jane Austen, also thanks to the LII, by a professor at Brandeis. Here's part of what he says about Pride and Prejudice: In short, the novel constructs an exercise in reading for both protagonist and reader, and manipulates narrative so as to make the reader conscious of the fallibility and precariousness of reading [that is, trying to interpret the motives and feelings of others] of any kind. Again, it would not be going too far to see this exercise in terms of Austen's deeply held Anglican faith and its theology of the imperfection yet improvability--though not perfectibility--of humankind. No wonder this story continues to be dramatized.

Mozilla Firefox 1.5 is now available. If you are upgrading, it doesn't remember your home page, so be sure you can get to it before upgrading. (You can set the new version to use the old home page.)

Thanks to Neat New Stuff for the 46 Best-ever Freeware utilities. I expect to be exploring this.

Bonnie questions her own blogging. Is it a vain exercise?

From the National Geographic, an article on a fossil scorpion-like creature roughly as large as a human being. This would have been the largest arthropod known.

This week's Christian Carnival is here. The host has done an especially interesting job with the theme of "99." Check it out! (For information on locating these Carnivals, see here)

Image source (public domain)