Life of Messiah

America’s Theologian Beyond America

January 6, 2025

There is some idea among Christians that groups of theologians from the past, such as the Church Fathers or Reformers, all shared a common theological framework and view. Anyone reading beyond just a few Church Fathers knows this is not true. Theologians and pastors through the third and fourth centuries had very few theological positions…

Quick Review: Computer Power and Human Reason

June 15, 2025

Weizenbaum, Joseph. Computer Power and Human Reason. W. H. Freeman and Company, 1976. Joseph Weizenbaum, the inventor and developer of ELIZA, tells us his purpose in writing this book is: There are then, two questions that must ultimately be confronted. First, are the conceptual bases that underlie linguistic understanding entirely formalizable, even in principle, as…

Review of Plastic Words: The Tyranny of A Modular Language

June 23, 2025

Poerksen, Uwe. Plastic Words: The Tyranny of a Modular Language. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1995. Abstraction, particularly in the computer age, is one of the most important skills anyone can develop. Separating the principle from the thing, seeing alternative uses for the thing based on the underlying principle, understanding unintended consequences, and…