Magic Statistics

According to Editor and Publisher, Mr Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, has written a letter to his own newspaper attacking a book review his own newspaper published. The objectionable essay was a review by legal scholar Richard Posner of several recent books on the media. Keller charges that Posner "weirdly" makes almost no distinction

within the vast category of American media, between those that are aggressively partisan and those that strive to keep opinion sequestered from news, between outlets that invest in serious reporting and those that simply riff on the reporting of others, between the sensational and the more high-minded, between organizations that hasten to correct errors and those that could not care less, between the cartoonish shout shows on cable TV and the more ambitious journalism of, say, the paper you are holding in your hands.

It's pretty obvious which side Mr Keller thinks the New York Times is on. Unfortunately, there's this and this and this and this and . . . well, you get the idea.

What's really weird is the juxtaposition of Mr Keller's vehement criticism and the New York Times book review editor's introduction to Mr Posner's essay:

In an essay on the credibility of the news media, Bad News, Posner weaves his way through the arguments of left and right with his predictable unpredictability, providing a surprisingly nonpolitical perspective on a very political subject.

Based on Mr Keller's intemperate and self-righteous letter, I'd guess that Mr Posner's essay is well worth reading—and ASAP before the Times removes from its website. Check it out.

Finally, I am peeved at Editor and Publisher for calling Richard Posner a conservative legal scholar. He's not a conservative: he's a libertarian. No wonder Bill Keller got his dander up.

via Drudge.

The latest in an occasional series of prayers by Christians of ages past. Previous entry here; complete list of entries here.

Almighty God, we are unworthy to come into your presence, because of our many sins. We do not deserve any grace or mercy from you, if you dealt with us as we deserve. We have sinned against you, O Lord, and we have offended you. And yet, O Lord, as we acknowledge our sins and offenses, so also do we acknowledge you to be a merciful God, a loving and favourable Father, to all who turn to you. And so we humbly ask you, for the sake of Jesus Christ your son, to show mercy to us, and forgive us all our offenses. Forgive the sins of our youth, and the sins of our old age. By your Spirit, O God, take possession of our hearts, so that, not only the actions of our life, but also the words of our mouths, and the smallest thought of our minds, may be guided and governed by you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and forever. Amen.

Adapted from John Knox's Liturgy of 1560. (Found online here.)

John Knox (c. 1514-72), became active in the Reformation in Scotland after his friend George Wishart was burned at St Andrews in 1546 for preaching Protestant doctrines. Shortly thereafter Knox himself was preaching the same doctrines, but managed to avoid Wishart's fate by moving to England (1549-52) and then to the Continent, mostly in Geneva (1552-59).

When  returned to his native country in 1559, Scotland was deeply divided over Protestantism and seemed on the brink of civil war. That year Knox preached several sermons that energised the cause of Reformation, and he quickly became leader of the Reformers. In February 1560, Parliament abolished the authority of the Pope, forbade the Mass, and approved a Reformed Confession of Faith.

From 1559 until 1572, Knox served as Minister of St Giles' Church, Edinburgh, where he was buried.

The photo on the right was taken inside St Giles' when we visited Edinburgh last summer. This statue, cast in 1904, shows him holding an open Bible. Even when he was old and infirm, "he was sa active and vigorus that he was lyk to ding that pulpit in blads and flie out of it" [he was so active and vigourous it looked as if he was about to break the pulpit in bits and fly out of it].

This window is found in the John Knox House, High Street, Edinburgh, which has been preserved as a small museum. The symbols are most appropriate: the tower of St Giles', grapes and grain for Holy Communion, emblems of Scotland and Edinburgh, an open Bible, a cross and serpent (John 3:14); and the Lamb of God. The words around Knox's picture say, "Unto me is this grace given: that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ".