Links and Things: December 29, 2015

I will dispense with the usual "sorry for being away so long" apologies and move straight on to new business. Presenting a new feature to the blog! I was going to call it "Stuff I've Read and Stuff" (maybe I'll still go with that... what says the readership?), but we'll go with "Links and Things" for now. A smattering and sampling of the interesting this and that I've come across of late...

First, Shameless Self Promotion: my article at Crisis Magazine identifying the real threat to the humanities in the university.

I would also recommend from that fine publication this piece from Prof. Anthony Esolen on our society's current penchant for denying the bleedin' obvious.

I'm a language nerd. I'm sorry. No, I'm not, actually. But this is completely interesting. Did you know that when you say the children's rhyme "hickory dickory dock," you're basically counting in Celtic? More like this here, in which the author tells us that English is not normal.

Lastly: the German Bishops' Conference website recently featured a post claiming that African Catholics are staunch defenders of orthodoxy only because, basically, they're poor and stupid. No, I'm not kidding. That's what they said. Bishop Robert Barron gives an alternate explanation as to why the Church in Africa is growing at an explosive rate.

Enjoy!