Richard John Neuhaus died the day before yesterday. He represents one of the schools of theology with which I almost (but not at all) agree whole-heartedly; hence, although his theology and mine converged on a great many affirmations, they conflicted at many other painfully neuralgic points, and many colleagues and friends of mine held him in low esteem (while many others found in him a dearly beloved friend, leader, and outstanding public intellectual). Since I almost agreed with him, the irritation of being-at-odds and of friends’ disdain for him pains me all the more. I grieve with those to whom he was a great friend, a generous mentor, a vigorous supporter; and for those who will not miss him, I grieve as well, in several different ways.
On a different theological note, another of the intellectual figures with whom I almost agree offers a very wise Augustinian analysis of the Blagojevich-Burris fiasco in the New York Times.
If any Mahler appreciaters in NYC have Monday evening open, or have a few dollars to contribute to a good cause, there’ll be a benefit performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony at Carnegie Hall this coming Monday, to support care for children with AIDS in Africa. They’ve set up a website at Mahler for the Children, where you can learn more about the performers, the program, and the beneficiaries — and buy tickets.
And as Mark points out, Abbott-Smith‘s Greek lexicon is available for download from Google books. Indeed a great many precious nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Greek reference works can be downloaded for free from Google; Greek students should definitely poke around in that tremendous resource.
One more thing: the film Examined Life looks terrific; they should make a comparable movie with theologians!