Monthly Archives: November 2008
Thankfulness
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, I think it would be a good idea to take a look at thankfulness. What should we be thankful for? Are there things we should not be thankful for? In previous articles I’ve insinuated that material prosperity is not necessarily a blessing. Should we nevertheless be thankful for it?
Note that the first and last beatitudes are for those without any claim to prosperity. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:2), and “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). These are blessings which preclude the rich (one would assume that the persecuted generally forfeit their wealth). Obviously there is a special blessing for the poor, but is that a complement to a blessing of wealth, or is wealth not a blessing at all?…
The Nature of Christ
The description of the Trinity in the Athanasian Creed was frustrating for me for a long time. What does it mean to say that there is one God with three Persons? It’s all well and good to say “eternally begotten”, but it’s almost a senseless phrase. In fact, the whole creed is full of concepts that make very little sense on their own: without explanation, it’s a very unhelpful way to think about the Trinity.
Fortunately, there is explanation…
The Electoral College as a Weighted Market
Barack Obama led the popular vote by 7% on November 4. A hefty margin for sure in a presidential race, but nothing at all compared to the electoral vote turnout: a good 37% margin. And except with rare occasions where the granularity of the state system falls on the other side of a close race (i.e., the 2000 election), electoral vote margins are almost always starkly amplified over the popular vote margin. Why is this, and what does it tell us about markets?…