A yearly Christmas pleasure is King’s College at Cambridge’s famous Festival of Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve, nine lessons and nine carols with a beautiful choir and traditional music. For those who just can’t wait, here’s a bit of the rationale of the King’s College service, followed by an Mbird-friendly, fresh and down-to-earth spinoff to tide […]
Another Week Ends: Spoiled Kids, Harvard Perfectionism, KKKlan Grace, Lonergan’s Lament, Negative Thinking, Mormonism, Golf Ethics, Sorkinisms, and Fall Conference Update
1. Over at The New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert surveyed the latest swath of parenting books, asking the question “Why Are American Kids So Spoiled?” Much of the article reiterates what we’ve been hearing with alarming frequency the past couple years, namely that the current “helicopter/snowplow” culture of control is backfiring, royally. It’s an honest if […]
New from High Street Hymns: Hearts and Voices (Free Download)
Very, very exciting news this week with the release of the long-awaited new record from High Street Hymns, Hearts and Voices! For those of you unaware of High Street Hymns, they are an absolutley invaluable resource, specializing in the resetting of great old Protestant hymns with a special ear for Grace. Their music is tasteful […]
Another Week Ends: more Tiger Mom, Rex Ryan, Taco Bell, Dawn Treader, Downton Abbey, River Baptisms
1. The Tiger Beat goes on! David Brooks had some insightful things to say in The NY Times this week, calling Amy Chua a wimp: Practicing a piece of music for four hours requires focused attention, but it is nowhere near as cognitively demanding as a sleepover with 14-year-old girls. Managing status rivalries, negotiating group […]
Another Week Ends: Prosperity Mortgages, Megan Fox, South Africa, Nietzsche, Community, Wii Pray, Dylan
1. Not to beat a dead horse, but Hanna Rosin (she of Ehrenreich book review/God’s Harvard fame) wrote a lengthy cover story about the prosperity gospel for The Atlantic this past month entitled “Did Christianity Cause The Market To Crash?”. She reports that “the growth of the prosperity gospel tracks fairly closely to the pattern […]
The Magills and The Kings County Sound
As we all know, contemporary Christian worship music is a very tricky proposition. Forget indie rock with all its cooler-than-thou do’s and don’ts, forget pop with its lowest-common-denominator pressures, etc – there is no genre that is more difficult (impossible?) to do well than contemporary Christian worship. I’m not talking about modern hymnody, which is […]
Another Week Ends: High-Fives, Underage Drinking, High Street Hymns, Stephen Colbert, Whitney Houston and The Beatles
1. A worthy editorial from David Brooks (ht JS and AZ) from Tuesday’s NY Times, entitled “High-Five Nation”, tracing an important change in national attitudes over the past 50 years: When you glimpse back on those days [immediately following World War II] you see a people — even the rich and famous celebrities — who […]
Slightly Expanded And Significantly More Organized Conference Book Table List
Here’s the full list plus a couple of relevant additions, linked to sites where they can be purchased. Although everything comes highly recommended, this is by no means meant to be a definitive list (stay tuned…). For the sake of newcomers we have divided the non-fiction into three itunes-inspired categories: Basics, Next Steps and Deep […]
4.75 Links 4 The Weekend
1. Earlier this winter, many of us went bonkers for the recent video-game documentary King Of Kong. I don’t know how we missed it but a writer for Harpers spent 5 years with the infamous Billy Mitchell (he-of-perfect-pacman-and-mullet-fame) and published a fascinating and rather touching write-up this past summer. A few choice quotes: “‘[Playing the […]
June/July Playlist
I’m pretty proud of this one, but be warned: it contains some serious soft-rock. 1. Promised Land – Chuck Berry2. Get Better – Mates Of State3. Birds and Bees – Ben Lee4. The Other Side Of Summer – Elvis Costello5. Out Of Time – The Rolling Stones6. Needles And Pins – Jackie DeShannon7. We’re The […]
