The Hedgehog’s Array: October 2, 2015

Noteworthy reads from the last week:

“The Amazing Inner Lives of Animals,” Tim Flannery

“Most of us will never see a wild elephant, much less spend the time observing them that is required to understand them as individuals. But there are animals that share our lives, and whose societies, emotional depth, and intelligence are readily accessible.”

“Behind the Draped Mirror,” Colin Dickey

“The period of mourning is always delicate, temporally speaking. The procession from death to the afterlife is represented in many human cultures as a journey, sometimes including a psychopomp like Anubis or Charon, a ferryman to guide us on our way.”

“Unstable Atoms,” Kerry Clare

“Closer to home, the past itself functions as another kind of otherwhere. From Mary-Rose’s perspective, there seems to be an impassable gulf between then and now, even though the characters are the same people.”

“Thinking with Heidegger: On the Theological Implications of an ‘A-theistic’ Philosophy,” Christopher Barnett

“Thus Heidegger’s intellectual formation lies very much in the traditional Catholicism of his hometown. What, then, led him away from this heritage and toward the a-theological character of his later thinking?”

“From Silkworms to Songbirds: Why We No Longer Preach Like Jonathan Edwards,” Ted A. Smith

“Edwards saw these typological connections everywhere. He saw shadows of divine things in the way a snake caught its prey, what it is like to climb a hill, the waves of a stormy sea, flaxen clothing, cornmeal, the stench of a corpse, milk, and the habit of taking off one’s clothes before sleeping.”

“Has Child Protective Services Gone Too Far?,” Michelle Goldberg

“Advocates for families caught up in the child-welfare system hope that the national debate sparked by the free-range parenting movement will draw attention to the threats and intrusions that poor and minority parents endure all the time.”

Hedgehogs abroad:

“How to Tame an Internet Troll,” Frank Pasquale

“The fantasy of using words alone to right a perceived injustice—or trigger a meltdown—has renewed relevance today.”