Language Hat and Language Log cover an exciting discovery in the world of classics: using new imaging technology, a previously-unreadable collection of papyri is now being read. The manuscripts include lost manuscripts of Sophocles and other classical authors, and may also include early Christian writing.
Category: History
Requiescat in Pacem
Karol Józef Wojtyła, Pope John Paul II, passed away today.
One of the greatest figures of our time, he was instrumental in the downfall of Communism. He did more than any other in recent history to reform the Roman Church’s position in modern life, while standing firm against the erosion of values. His catechism and numerous other publications clarified and organized the doctrine and positions of the Church which had been in some confusion since Vatican II.
His grasp of language and his many travels brought encouragement and inspiration to multitudes around the world. His rapprochement with the Lutheran and Orthodox Churches, and with the Jewish faith, are an example to us all.
So even though I am not a member of the Roman Church, I honor his memory.
New Blog
I’ve added a new blog to the links over to your right: The New Sisyphus. A State Department blog like the unfortunately retired Diplomadic, the last few days’ postings are full of bloggy goodness:
- David Brooks on the need to wean Europe from the American protective bubble and give the at once utopian and back-biting eurocrats some harsh reality to deal with, for a change.
- The US sends a strong signal to Syria by recalling its ambassador.
- A far better elucidation than I could provide of the reality behind US foreign policy in the Cold War and the strong evidence that once the Cold War was over, US foreign policy drastically changed. This is why the if the Left really had any self-consistency, it ought to have embraced the Bush Doctrine with open arms.
Home of the Brave
A little belated, here’s Mark Steyn on the Iraqi elections.
I liked the picture of some grizzled beaming Arab so proud of his purple finger that he dipped a second one and then raised both to the camera – flipping the V sign, or so I like to think, to the BBC, to Sir Simon Jenkins, to Do-Nothing Doug Hurd, to those Spanish protesters and the rest of the quagmire fetishists. Even the most benign liberator can’t “give” liberty to someone: you have to want it, and take it for yourself.
Hat tip: Chrenkoff.