Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Emperor Augustus The principal conquests of the Romans were achieved under the republic; and the emperors, for the most part, were satisfied with preserving those dominions which had been acquired by the policy of the senate, the active emulations of the consuls, and the martial enthusiasm of the people. The seven first centuries were filled with a rapid succession of triumphs; but it was reserved for Augustus to relinquish the […]

Read more

Masterpiece Cakeshop Round 2: The End of the Beginning

On June 30, 2023, the last day of the court’s term, the Supreme Court of the United Status issued its ruling in the case of 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. The ruling was the same as I had predicted six months ago. The opinions are a little disappointing, however. Both the majority and dissent seem to have difficulties reconciling rights to free speech and rights to equal access. The majority […]

Read more
John 3:16 in P75

Transcripts of the Earliest New Testament Manuscripts

Five years ago, I published a series of blogposts on the earliest New Testament manuscripts, in one of which I tabulated all Greek manuscripts of all 27 NT books that have been dated to between 2nd and 4th century by both LDAB and NTVMR[1]. This particular post and the series have become the most viewed posts of my otherwise obscure blog. Recently, one reader posed a question, “Where can I […]

Read more

Masterpiece Cakeshop Round 2: Let the Golden Rule Ring

Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963 When we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words […]

Read more

Masterpiece Cakeshop Round 2

Four years after Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, there is another case (again originated in Colorado) pending before the Supreme Court of the United States, which seems to pit First Amendment rights against rights of people with protected traits, 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. Like Masterpiece Cakeshop, the petitioner, a web designer, argues that her First Amendment right is violated when she is required by law to […]

Read more
Tolle Lege

In Defense of Sola Scriptura: III. A Longish Response to a Catholic (part 2)

The Question of Infallibility In a previous post, I asked the question, “How do we know that (the magisterium of) the Church is infallible?” Nothing in my Catholic interlocutor’s response addresses my question. In fact, I get the impression time and time again that he is not aiming at dialogue, but using my posts as a launchpad of canned responses of the Catholic Church.[1] However, we agree on one thing: […]

Read more
1 2 3 76