Pelagius Buys a Jar of Jam http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103114001103 … #firstthingspitches (h/t @mungowitz) pic.twitter.com/DVkvOgAylh- A psychology study showed that subjects are more likely to believe in free will after thinking about making choices. A key citation in the psychology of making choices is Iyengar's "jam experiment." Pelagius believed in an extreme version of free will, unconstrained by original sin, in contrast to his contemporary Augustine's doctrine of grace.
Every act of satire must always remain open to the possibility of getting trolled https://twitter.com/cjr/status/501785172753543169 … #firstthingspitches- As described in the CJR link, Facebook started added "[SATIRE]" flags to links from the Onion. This tweet plays on Humanae Vitae's doctrine which is often paraphrased that marital union "must always remain open to the possibility of life."
A Stylite Grows in Brooklyn: The Post-Christian Competitive Asceticism of the Park Slope Food Coop #firstthingspitches- A play on the title "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." The Park Slope Food Coop is known for its interminable meetings over things like whether to allow plastic bags. The purity vs practicality dynamic resembles the development of monasticism, of which stylites (men who spent their lives atop pillars) are an extreme example.
- Homoioteleuton and the Scribes of Cupertino #firstthingspitches https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/blog/2014-02/2014-02-23.html … h/t @binarybits
- An Apple security breach was the result of a repeated line of code. This parallels certain scribal errors in Bible manuscripts.
- A Guide to Surviving Thanksgiving With Your Moralistic Therapeutic Deism Relatives #firstthingspitches
- At Thanksgiving 2014 it became something of a trope for liberal periodicals and organizations to provide tips about discussing PPACA with relatives at Thanksgiving.
- Better to Disagree With Arminius Than Agree With the National Council of Churches http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/berger/2013/10/30/cowboys-and-calvinists/ … #firstthingspitches
- The linked post (by the great sociologist Peter Berger) discusses the growing popularity of neo-Calvinism among Southern Baptists and attributes it in part to anti-mainline Protesant contrarianism. The wording is a play on the 18th c British slogan against the Gregorian calendar, "Better to disagree with the sun than agree with the pope."
- "I smell the blood of a Christian man!" Troll Hunter explains the late evangelization of Scandinavia & Poland-Lithuania #firstthingspitches
- The Norwegian mockumentary Troll Hunter has a running gag that trolls can smell Christians. Historically the Nordic regions were very late converts to Christianity (c. 11th-14th c, as compared to c 4th-5th c for Southern Europe).
Up Jumped the Devil: Nick Cave Songs as Remedial Catechism for NY Mag #firstthingspitches #iftheylettristynbloomeditwithoutadultsupervision- Justice Scalia gave an interview in which he affirmed to the interviewer's amazement that yes, he does believe in the Devil. Tristyn is a big Nick Cave fan.
- Add a Word, Ruin a Creed: The Origins of the Great Schism in Hashtag Games of Late Antiquity #firstthingspitches
- The weekend before this tweet #addawordruinamovie was a popular hashtag game. The reference is to how the Catholic Church's interpolation of "filioque" into the Nicene creed contributed to schism with the Orthodox.
- We go to Mexico to do opiates, abuse children, keep a mistress, and fleece widows with the Legion of Christ #firstthingspitchesifitwereVice
- parody of Vice magazine/tv, which follows a formula of "report on sketchy activities in remote places." Legion of Christ is the organization founded by Marcial Maciel, who did all of these things.
- "Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Y, OH, H to the WH." Exodus 6 and the drama of Biblical narrative #firstthingspitches
- Jay-Z's "Public Service Announcement"
#firstthingskidzpitches RT @nicolakwilson: Here's our lesson on St. Simeon the Stylite. pic.twitter.com/0Zu1gLOfYjolakwilson/status/376115460737363968/photo/1- Indulgences: Coasian Bargaining in the Treasury of Merits #firstthingspitches
- The economist Ronald Coase died at the age of 102. He was best known for the Coase theorem which holds that if transaction costs are low then property can be reallocated to its most efficient use. The treasury of merits is a concept in Catholic theology about good deeds that offset time in purgatory and indulgences are premised on the idea that one can, in effect, buy credits in the treasury of merits. These concepts were at the center of the Protestant Reformation.
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