tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194175522024-03-13T16:28:00.719-04:00Dan's Musings (and other dangerous ideas)Thoughts on human flourishing in all its formsDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-4843196810975809272012-05-02T10:43:00.001-04:002012-05-02T10:43:11.606-04:00Especially for my followers
If you're following my blog and waiting for updates, please note that I've changed my hosting to Wordpress, so the new blog address is http://danbrowning.wordpress.com. Please surf on over there and sign up for updates!Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-68048490329787366632012-02-21T10:05:00.000-05:002012-02-21T10:05:43.287-05:00Immaculate Contraception
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-15985417304976032252012-01-11T12:48:00.001-05:002012-01-11T12:48:39.142-05:00An Advent homily
Some of you may have heard that my local congregation, for some unfathomable reason, called on me to deliver a homily during the Advent season this year. For those interested in hearing my thoughts for a change rather than reading them, here's a link to an mp3 recording of said homily. (This is my first attempt at podcasting, such as it is, so please let me know if you have any problems Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-88010265437567142212012-01-04T11:40:00.000-05:002012-01-04T11:40:57.208-05:00New Year's Resolutions, part one (a look back)
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-5686665669220695262011-07-27T22:25:00.000-04:002011-07-27T22:25:06.818-04:00Eddie and the LongFellows <!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 10]>
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Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-45570848756829890312011-07-20T07:43:00.000-04:002011-07-20T07:43:05.263-04:00Religion and Politics Roundup<!--StartFragment-->
As the Presidential campaign starts up, it’s time for the silly season of the confluence of religion and politics to begin. I might try to keep up with this throughout the campaign, but I fear it could be a full-time job, and until someone starts paying me to do so I won’t be able to devote the time necessary to cover the religion-and-politics silliness in full detail. ThusDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-12831120940893588592011-07-07T13:34:00.001-04:002011-07-08T14:17:03.751-04:00Why People PrayEditor's Note: As some have already pointed out, I was not clear enough in this article about what kind of prayer I was referring to (see Michael's insightful comment below). Here I'm examining only the petitionary or supplicatory prayer, the one that asks the Divine for specific things. There are entire realms of meditative practices (including "relational" prayer, intended to bring one closer Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-57390339038752313002011-06-09T15:40:00.001-04:002011-06-10T09:30:13.676-04:00Human Flourishing - What Is It?If I’m going to talk about human flourishing and even offer myself up as a “Human Flourishing Consultant,” I suppose I should start with some thoughts on what exactly this concept of human flourishing is. As with so many things philosophical, we can turn to the ancient Greeks for a bit of initial guidance.
Eudaimonia is an ancient Greek word commonly mistranslated as “happiness,” but a more Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-91430760897960070582011-05-10T13:23:00.000-04:002011-05-10T13:23:24.777-04:00An Open Letter To Rev. Jim Wallis and Sojourners<!--StartFragment-->
There has been a great deal of controversy in the past few days over the progressive evangelical Christian magazine Sojourners' refusal to run a video advertisement from the interfaith group Believe Out Loud. In the video, a young child is shown walking down the aisle of a small church, holding the hands of his two parents while receiving stares and awkward looks from thoseDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-86787720273694584832011-05-01T16:35:00.000-04:002011-05-01T16:35:17.056-04:00Courage and RiskThis piece is the result of a rather mundane inspiration. I was updating my Facebook profile recently and I re-read some of my “favorite quotations” I had listed there. I found a couple that particularly struck me, and I realized that I had written a column about a year ago featuring those two quotes. They say it’s good to revisit previous teachings to see how you’re measuring up, so here goes.
Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-24846784900936329922011-04-22T09:05:00.000-04:002011-04-22T09:05:07.808-04:00Growing Older – It's Not For Girly Men!<!--StartFragment-->
I recently read an amusing interview with outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in which he bemoaned growing older. In his own words (add your own best Ah-nuld accent):
"I feel terrific about where I am in my life, when I look back at what I've accomplished, but I feel shitty when I look at myself in the mirror...I'm not competing, I'm not ripping off my shirt Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-5390170940079053092011-04-12T11:32:00.000-04:002011-04-12T11:32:41.849-04:00Dolphins Are People, TooThe recent opening of the Georgia Aquarium's AT&T Dolphin Tales show has raised accompanying concerns about the captivity of dolphins and other cetaceans (marine mammals such as dolphins and whales). Defenders of the exhibit tout its educational benefits, while opponents cite studies demonstrating minimal educational results for attendees and argue that such exhibits are blatant exploitationsDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-78185988676658150772010-03-21T21:58:00.002-04:002010-03-21T22:01:16.142-04:00Another published columnSince Decatur News Online has started accepting my columns on a semi-regular basis, I'm posting on here less frequently - however, I wanted to inform those of you who might follow me on here but aren't necessarily keeping up with my Facebook or Twitter posts that I have another column published today, mostly about the recent brouhaha involving Glenn Beck and "social justice" minded Christians. Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-47832100759197874832010-03-07T16:25:00.002-05:002010-03-07T16:27:37.535-05:00Rushdie and Hitchens at Emory, oh my!My article on the recent Emory University symposium featuring Salman Rushdie, Christopher Hitchens, and Deepa Mehta, with some additional thoughts of mine (of course!), is now up on Decatur News Online - please check it out - comments welcomed (on the Decatur News site, please)! Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-27039534180127018842010-03-01T16:47:00.006-05:002010-03-10T07:08:24.114-05:00Bruery Beer Dinner @ Brick Store PubDecatur News Online has now published my review of the Bruery Beer Dinner at the Brick Store Pub, so I encourage you to click through and read it on their site!Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-70701351797539922292010-02-24T06:42:00.005-05:002010-03-15T12:10:16.969-04:00Giving Up and Taking OnThis is another post that I've revamped a bit for publication in Decatur News Online - I encourage you to click through and read it there. Thanks for your support of my fledgling publishing endeavors!Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-74750675577997777862010-02-08T08:47:00.002-05:002010-02-08T08:50:37.466-05:00Inherently Violent?While I was watching the Super Bowl with some friends last night, I heard one friend remark something to the effect of “OK, enough testosterone already!” She was commenting on what she perceived to be the pervasive nature of violent or combative images throughout the evening – and not merely the sight of very large, very athletic men hitting each other as hard as they could on the playing field. Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-89763052415655707192010-02-02T07:51:00.000-05:002010-02-02T07:53:29.836-05:00The Fame Monster In All of UsYes, I'm going to use the Grammys, and specifically Lady Gaga's performance with Sir Elton John, as a jumping-off point for this page of musings. For those of you who missed it, here are three separate links to various videos of the performance; I'm sure there are copyright issues with these being available on the web so they'll probably be taken down at some point, but I don't think you'll get Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-32867089390682273492010-01-29T08:26:00.002-05:002010-01-29T08:28:11.575-05:00Cynicism Is SO Last Decade!Many have commented on Conan O'Brien's farewell speech on last Friday's Tonight Show (if you've been living on a desert island for the past month, NBC moved O'Brien out of his Tonight Show hosting gig to make room for Jay Leno to move back to the 11:30 p.m. slot). Despite having been treated rather shabbily (by most accounts) by NBC, O'Brien insisted on taking a very positive attitude toward the Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-58186000359980982502010-01-23T14:09:00.004-05:002010-01-26T15:03:14.328-05:00Joseph Swan Wine Dinner @ FeastShifting back to culinary delights, dear readers, it's time for you to once again vicariously enjoy my gourmet adventures. We returned to Feast Restaurant in Atlanta for a dinner featuring (mostly) the wines of Joseph Swan, a small family-owned winery in the Russian River Valley of Sonoma County. I say “mostly” because a couple of the offerings were from other nearby wineries, such as the Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-13258700934573888852010-01-22T09:38:00.001-05:002010-01-22T09:39:59.729-05:00The End of Democracy?In a 5-4 decision this week, the Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot prevent corporations from spending money on behalf of political candidates. This decision overturned two longstanding precedents, and will have an enormous impact on future elections. As President Obama described it, the decision was “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-42196917582286465492010-01-15T07:59:00.002-05:002010-01-15T08:03:58.894-05:00Brit Hume, Televangelist?There's been a good deal of brouhaha over Brit Hume's comments about Tiger Woods on this week's Fox News Sunday program. The show included a discussion about Woods' comeback to professional golf in light of the recent revelations about his recurring inability to keep his driver in the bag when prudent (sorry, I had to get one jibe in there). Anyway, Hume made a statement that has struck many Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-60296784916067817672009-12-17T18:00:00.002-05:002009-12-17T18:02:22.760-05:00More wine stuffForgot to mention that I chose the lineup at a recent wine tasting at one of my favorite local establishments. Check out a review here to see what was in the affordable, "go-to" wine list (with the disclaimer that I had to stick with said establishment's distributors, so a couple of wines I wanted didn't get on the list - check comments for that).Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-6039263523363212702009-12-16T12:25:00.010-05:002009-12-16T12:50:27.116-05:00Food and wine inspirationYeah, I know, where have I been? Acknowledging that I have nothing profound to say at the moment, and not wanting to speculate about whether obstructing health insurance reform, frustrating financial industry reform, or blocking the importation of inexpensive pharmaceuticals is the more egregious and cynical move by the Senate, I offer you this review of a fine wine dinner I enjoyed at Feast Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19417552.post-19464016281530352082009-10-09T10:54:00.003-04:002009-10-09T11:36:30.329-04:00Why Obama? Why now? Here's why...Like many of you, I awoke today to the surprising (to say the least) news that the Nobel Committee had chosen President Obama as the recipient of the 2009 Peace Prize. Once I got over the initial shock (and awe?) phase, I began to wonder, again no doubt like many of you, whether this honor hadn't come a tad early in Obama's career. After all, he's only been in office nine months, and the formal Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03593282201891349177noreply@blogger.com4