All posts filed under: SOSc

We’re Testing the Wrong People – The Atlantic

Current Affairs / SOSc

What do we need to do before we can safely reopen the economy? Here in Rhode Island we’re apparently the only state with testing capacity that is at the recommended levels for making that move. But are we using the capacity we have in the best way so as to inform our decision making? A essay by the vice provost of U of Penn (who’s an oncologist/bioethicist) and by an economist from NYU argues that […]

A Message of Hope and a Call to Persevere

SOSc

We are facing a moment unlike any we have faced in modern times. In response people across Rhode Island have shown courage, strength and compassion to each other and to our neighbors. We are still in the midst of this crisis, and sadly the end is not yet in sight. Yet because of the decisions being made by state leaders, along with the heroism of medical professionals, emergency response teams and workers in critical industries, […]

“Fasting in Earnest”, an insight from Lucas Mix

SOSc

My friend Lucas Mix, one of my companions in the Society of Ordained Scientist has put our present quarantine into context in a way I’ve been trying to express, but to this point failing. He writes: Many “shelter in place” for fear of sickness and death. Christians have another reason. We will enter quarantine, trusting in God, but we must not leave quarantine. Currently, we cannot care for the sick without spreading the virus. When […]

A prayer for protection this night

SOSc

Lord Jesus, we call you Savior and that you are. Come quickly to our aid in this time of sickness and disruption. Send your angels to protect those in danger, to heal the sick and to guard the dying. We ask particularly for your loving arms to hold and protect the medical personnel, the first responders and the essential workers without whom we would be lost. Lead us to safety by the power of your […]

Companions along the Way

Religion / SOSc / Travel

Some of you may have wondered about the letters that come after my signature. “SOSc” stands for the Society of Ordained Scientists. It’s a “dispersed” religious community, and I have taken my life vows as a member of that order. The members have been professional scientists at one point in their career (and a significant number still are), and most of them are ordained in one of the churches of the Anglican Communion (though there […]

Twitter and the collapse of coalitions.

Centrists / Futurism / Reconciliation / SOSc / Web/Tech

Walter Ong, a Jesuit who studied linguistics was fascinated by the difference between oral and literary cultures. Oral cultures value one sort of communication structure and literate ones another. (The difference is explained in The Atlantic article by Robinson Meyer linked below.) Twitter (and to a similar degree Facebook, and I guess in a way even Instagram and Snapchat) represents an intersection between the oral and literary communication paradigms. Meyer writes: Before Ong died in […]