Academic Calvinism and Mapping of the Blogosphere ...

On Tuesday, I referred to Henry Farrell's post at Crooked Timber on"Academic Calvinism". Building on Max Weber's notion of the Calvinist work ethic, Farrell reflected on the assumption by tenured faculty that they are the elect and that the rest of us are, well, at best invisible. The discussion drew over 30 responses, including a remarkable one from"do i sound bitter," who had survived the chase but confessed to being utterly burned out at 35. Farrell's post also drew 8 links from other blogs. Perhaps the most thought-provoking of these was Naomi Chana's"Semper Reformanda Est" at Baraita. In 6 smart paragraphs and 3 footnotes, Professor Chana dismisses Weber's theological illiteracy, brings us up to speed on double predestination, and calls for a stout-hearted Calvinist reconciliation of graduate education in the humanities and social sciences with the realities of the marketplace. Jonathan Dresner recently cited another thoughtful post by Chana at Baraita and we've recently added it to our blogroll. Do yourself a favor: read Chana's Baraita. It's one of the most thoughtful higher education blogs on the net.

On a lighter note, ya gotta check out the Ministry of Cartography at the Politburo Diktat's "Sketchmap of Bloggahland". You'll find that the"Moonbat Colonie of Leftie Land" is in perilous condition, nearly surrounded and under siege by the"Vast Right Warlike Confederation.""To arms!""To arms!""But wait! Whose side are we on?" As I said, the Cliopatriarchs are discussing these things We're making the world safe for democracy one nation at a time around here.

There's an alternative mapping of the Commonwealth of Blogosphere States here. Surely, Cliopatria is there somewhere. Gaspar! Get my cartographer on the phone!
Thanks to Emory's Andrew Ackerman for the tip.