![Another Week Ends: Good Friday, a Grand Miracle, Boomers' Death Boom, <i>Lazarus Is Dead</i>, Meritocracy, Performance, [chill / lofi / jazzhop], and Oat Milk](https://i0.wp.com/mbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/crucifixion.jpg?resize=290%2C290&ssl=1)
1. Today is Good Friday, which means, if ever there were a time to consider the brutal instrument of death at the center of a major world religion, that time has come. Off-putting and oft-baffling, the cross carries a multifaceted meaning that can prove elusive for onlookers and skeptics (and, much of time, believers). In […]
Another Week Ends: Ruvolo's Mercy, Hoos Redeemed, Techno-Adulting, Friendseagram and lots of #Seculosity
1. First up, a jaw-dropping story of “forgiveness in a vengeful world,” in the form of an NY Times obituary for Victoria Ruvolo who died this week. Ms. Ruvolo’s widely publicized kindness toward her attacker provided emotional counterpoint to a senseless act that began in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2004. She was returning […]
Another Week Ends: Chutes and Ladders, Sex Recessions, Virtue Signaling, the Final Four, and the End of Goodbyes
1. Adam Grant wrote an op-ed this week in the New York Times about the question thrown at seven year olds everywhere: What do you want to be when you grow up? Grant, who is an “organizational psychologist,” believes that the question should be thrown out, not because no child could possibly know what they […]
Another Week Ends: Shameful Leggings, Artificial Intimacy, Gangs of Ecuador, Obituaries for the Cancelled, and Why We Procrastinate
It’s been #Seculosity Week if you’ve been following us on social media, with interviews and op-eds popping up all over the place. Check out DZ’s interviews with Mbird friend Scott Jones over on the Give and Take podcast, and the 1517 crew’s Banned Books podcast. And in the ICYMI category, #Seculosity made the Washington Post last […]
Another Week Ends: Success Robots, Weed Church, Blessed Poor, Affect Theory, Scientistic Limits, Fanny, and Twin Feather
1. Don’t shoot the piano player but another week, another flurry of #seculosity… This first item comes from Peggy Noonan, who hit the college admissions scandal nail on the head in her “Kids, Don’t Become Success Robots” column in The Wall Street Journal. She writes: In the past decade or so I’ve observed a particular parenting […]
Another Week Ends: Zen Evangelicalism, Rumors of Narnia, Invisible Forces, Digital Eidolons, Liquid Bread, and Deleting Social Media
1. Say you’re jonesing for a stirring interreligious discourse this weekend — have I got the thing for you! In a great piece for the latest First Things, art historian Matthew Milliner discusses the relationship between Eastern religions and evangelical Christianity. “…it is often thought,” he says, “that evangelical Protestants have little to offer interreligious dialogue.” […]
Another Week Ends: Hipster Conformity, Mononucleosis, Greek Basketball Coaching, Curated Imperfection, and The Secular Work Ethic
1. Tis the season for sickness. B.D. McClay over at The Hedgehog Review got mono, and while the short term result was a bout of feverish nightmares, excruciatingly painful swallowing, thundering headaches, and seemingly unending fatigue, the long term result was this marvelous essay: “The Ills That Flesh Is Heir to.” Her essay is a […]
Another Week Ends: The Mass Audience, The Power of Invisibility, College Loan Evangelism, Intuitive Eating, and the Fourth United Church
1. From The Spectator comes “The Quiet Sorrow of the Instagram Blogger.” It tells the true story of one “Influencer,” who really is a caricatured stand-in for everyone these days, named Kelly Larkin, of the “Kelly in the City” brand. Larkin is known (apparently) as an “aspirational but accessible” lifestyle branding influencer. As these cautionary […]
Another Week Ends: Evangelism Aversion, Everywhere Fundies, Jussie's Folly, Daddy Bill, Competitive Depression, and Bollywood Billie
1. The big news lighting up church circles at the moment is the polling numbers on evangelism released by Barna earlier this month. Christianity Today reports: “Nearly half (47%) of practicing Christian millennials—churchgoers who consider religion an important part of their lives—believe that evangelism is wrong. At least, they’re more than twice as likely as […]
Another Week Ends: Bad Romance, Marriage Therapy, Shania Twain, First Date at Denny's, Techno Tyranny, and the Paradox of Control
1. In high school, a friend of mine found a single rose waiting for her on each of her desks for six classes in a row; she was later offered yet another six roses and asked to the prom via guitar-serenade. The routine was sweet but seemed a little familiar, as if from a movie. Later, […]
Another Week Ends: Fake Meat, Away Messages, Ambiguous Grief, Dopey, Lebowitz, Gaffigan, and Generous Pot Roast
1. Meghan O’Gieblyn’s been on our radar of late, and not just because she’s featured so prominently in our new Faith & Doubt Issue. Meghan’s book of essays, Interior States, is phenomenal. American religiosity (and #seculosity) is on full display, and the theme continues in this new monthly series she’s doing at The Paris Review, […]
Another Week Ends: Benedictine Tech Startups, Lusty Boozy Priests, Timehop, Maximal Atonement, and #MbirdTyler19
Too much good news for one week: announcing today that early registration for our annual Mockingbird conference in Tyler, TX is opening Monday! Join us for #MbirdTyler19 as we explore “The Future of Grace”. It’s a totally different Mockingbird experience from any other gathering we host, and we can’t wait to reconnect with all our […]
