New Articles on Old Themes

I'm going to have to see if I can remember to go back and follow the subsequent rounds to see what else he writes.  The passages he references are some of the key ones I mentally refer back to when considering how to view policy and political issues through a Christian lens.  If you don't know the term, the Torah is the Hebrew name for the first five books of the Bible (the Old Testament for Christians, the only one for Jews, one of three for Muslims--though the term has additional meanings in the Jewish faith), telling the story of the founding of Jewish people and their covenant with God--the foundational laws, philosophies, and way of life for the faiths that followed.

(Image about homosexuality not from the article, just something related I thought worth including and sharing.)

Torah vs. Libertarians: Round 1

The libertarian view of economic justice is approximately this: Eliminate coercion and deception from the marketplace; let people make whatever purchases, gifts and contracts they like; and the result will be a fair distribution of economic goods. If people freely agree to exchanges, then they are fair by definition. Restricting people's freedom in order to bring about or maintain a certain pattern of wealth distribution is unjust.

The Torah disagrees!

Land Distribution When the Israelites conquer the Promised Land, the land is initially divided up more-or-less equally among clans. Since this is divinely ordained, it is presumably a fair starting point. As the Israelites begin buying, selling, giving and receiving, they drift away from the initial distribution. Inequality increases. But God does not accept that this is OK as long as it is done freely. Instead, God installs a reset requirement.

"You shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family" (Leviticus 25:7-10). . . .  (read more)

-----

This article is pretty short and I'd like to see more, but it shares some new research that the differences between introverts and extroverts isn't simply a matter of preference, but of physical differences in the way the brain works.

Extroverts Brain: Scientists Find Their Processing of Reward Differs from Introverts

Extroverts and introverts differ strongly in how their brains process rewarding experiences, new research suggests.

The study, published today (June 13) in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, found that extroverts are more likely to associate the rush of a feel-good brain chemical with the environment they are in at the time.

The findings could help explain why extroverts seek the high of a wild party, whereas introverts may prefer a quiet cup of tea at home.

Many differences

Scientists have long known that extroverts and introverts are different in myriad ways, but identifying the brain processes involved has proved tricky. Researchers have found that extroverts prefer immediate gratification and focus more on faces. On the other end of the spectrum, introverts tend to be overwhelmed by too much stimulation and pay more attention to detail, which is reflected in increased brain activity when processing visual information. . . . (read more)