Kitchen-Table Essays
These two essays, more recent and less formal than the academic ones, vary widely in theme and tone.
The first is really more a manifesto than an essay, but a manifesto written with tongue in cheek. Not that I don’t believe in the cause it champions. I just think, since it’s got approximately a snowball’s chance in hell, I might as well have a little fun with it. “The Cordillera Campaign” explains in some detail why it’s time to change the name of the beautiful province I call home. Incidentally, I founded Cordillerans for a Non-British Non-Columbia ten years ago, and I’m pleased to announce that the organization’s membership has tripled since then—from one to three!
The second piece, “God in the Dock: The Case for the Defense,” is my most recent essay. It’s a personal, philosophical reflection in the form of a theodicy, which is to say, a justification of one’s belief in God. Since I remain somewhat agnostic on that score, however, I don’t go so far as to claim that theism is inescapable, only that it’s more appealing—and arguably less dogmatic—than atheism.
The first is really more a manifesto than an essay, but a manifesto written with tongue in cheek. Not that I don’t believe in the cause it champions. I just think, since it’s got approximately a snowball’s chance in hell, I might as well have a little fun with it. “The Cordillera Campaign” explains in some detail why it’s time to change the name of the beautiful province I call home. Incidentally, I founded Cordillerans for a Non-British Non-Columbia ten years ago, and I’m pleased to announce that the organization’s membership has tripled since then—from one to three!
The second piece, “God in the Dock: The Case for the Defense,” is my most recent essay. It’s a personal, philosophical reflection in the form of a theodicy, which is to say, a justification of one’s belief in God. Since I remain somewhat agnostic on that score, however, I don’t go so far as to claim that theism is inescapable, only that it’s more appealing—and arguably less dogmatic—than atheism.
Tags: Peter Brunette, essayist, writer, author, historian, history, British Columbia, Cordillera Campaign, philosopher, philosophy, theology, theodicy