1. Every year, the Vatican erects a different nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square. They’re kind of a big deal. Past displays have been politically themed, while others were more traditionally beautiful. But the chosen scene this year is causing quite the stir. Including a fire extinguisher, ring-wraith figurine, and an astronaut helmet, the New […]
Another Week Ends: Active Listening, Moral Injury, Salad Righteousness, Yoga Humor, and Fat-Shaming
1. Leading off this week, Carlen Maddux has a fantastic interview with none other than Mary Zahl discussing the practice of active listening and its transformative, healing power. While most of our daily conversations could be said to be two people waiting for the other person to stop talking, active listening is something else altogether: […]
The More Walt Whitman Strove for Perfection, the More It Eluded Him
God comes a loving bed-fellow and sleeps at my side all night and close on the peep of the day, And leaves for me baskets covered with white towels bulging the house with their plenty … — Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855) One of the more interesting things I’ve read recently about the creative […]
Another Week Ends: The Good Lord Bird, American Weakness, Election Anxiety, Romance, Segmented Sleep, and the Power of Sound
1. Probably the smartest thing I did this week was bypass most election coverage to binge The Good Lord Bird, a limited series on Showtime about John Brown. The show’s title comes from a nickname for the glorious ivory-billed woodpecker, a rare bird that represents understanding: “They say one feather from a Good Lord Bird […]
Another Week Ends: Canceling Christmas, Acceptance Parenting, Emily Dickinson, the Church in 2020, Law and Gospel, and Myside Bias
1. Will COVID cancel Christmas this year? I certainly hope not, but that’s what Giles Fraser asks in his latest at UnHerd. Much about this year’s celebration will undoubtedly be different, if not cancelled; [The Grinch] COVID might steal our banquets, caroling, pageants, and large gatherings, but perhaps this year the pathos and joy of […]
Another Week Ends: Operation Ceasefire, Idiot Prayer, Racism and Sin, Troublesome Empathy, Martin Luther, and Immortality
1. A pretty obvious place to look for the dynamics of law and grace is, well, the law. In a recent story from Mother Jones, Samantha Michaels describes a program designed to curb gun violence in cities with high murder rates. Operation Ceasefire identifies people who are at risk of shooting someone or being shot; rather […]
“Christianity and Morality: A Story of an Uneasy Relationship”
A phenomenal lecture from Giles Fraser on impossible morality, Augustine, our crisis of capacity, and the free grace of God to losers.
Another Week Ends: UK Football, Mental Health, Passionate Rituals, Fundamentalist Politics, the Pure History Myth, and Jesus Working from Home
1. This week’s first link comes from the Athletic. As a young player, UK footballer Michael Johnson was a natural talent who appeared to be “in supreme control of his destiny.” He played professionally for only a few years before announcing his retirement in January 2013, when he was just 24, saying “he wished to […]
The Real Battle (Between Atheism and Christianity) Is Always Emotional
Blammo! It’s been a minute since we pointed to one of Giles Fraser’s columns, but that’s only because we lost track of the marvelously outspoken UK priest and pundit when he moved venues a couple years ago, from The Guardian to UnHerd. Well, the joke’s clearly on us, especially if it’s meant we miss out […]
Accommodating Parents and Their Anxious Kids (or, What I Really Want For Dinner Is Not To Make a Decision)
This is what’s for breakfast, that’s what you’re wearing, and here’s how we’re getting to school. Nothing about the next hour is up for grabs, boys. Get to it! …I wish that’s how the morning routine in our house went. Alas, like a lot of modern parents, my reflex is to give my kids options […]
Another Week Ends: Anselmian Austerity, Finding Your Passions, Gallbladder Cleanses, Descents Into Hell and a Few Conference Updates
1. Giles Fraser at The Guardian is at it again, making a bit of stretch – though an interesting one – on the role of Anselm’s atonement theory on the Greek debt crisis: According to Anselm, and the Reformation thinkers that followed him, the story of Easter is basically God’s response to a debt crisis. The argument is […]
