Saturday Good Reads

The presidential election continues to explode, implode, and reach new lows for common decency. Although to suggest the idea of common decency in a nation that celebrates the song lyrics of Beyonce and entertainers like Miley Cyrus is, I admit, a bit naïve and old-fashioned.

A Scot in Edinburgh discovers Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. Author R.R. Reno speaks about his new book. Poet Billy Collins has fun spearing the writers of opaque poetry (turnabout is fair play, since they often spear him). Twenty-five new Dead Sea Scrolls are discovered and explained. And British poet Owen Sheers writes a long, rather epic poem to memorialize the 50^th anniversary of the tragedy at Aberfan in Wales, when a slag heap gave way and engulfed a school; the poem is also being telecast.

The web had some beautiful things this week. Tim Good posted a stunning photograph of “Fall Feathers.” The Daily Mail had a story on Britain’s loveliest (and smallest) places of worship. Darlene of the blog Simply Darlene writes about her diabetes. And more.

Fortunately, life isn’t all politics. Even in a presidential election year.

British Stuff

Britain’s tiniest and loveliest places of worship – Daily Mail.

Peter Holder Concert – St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.

A Transatlantic Elegy for an American Hillbilly – Mez McConnell at 20 Schemes.

Faith

Principled, Practical Ways for Christians to Think about the Election Season – Hugh Whelchel at the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics.

Authority: God’s Good and Dangerous Gift – Jonathan Leeman at 9Marks.

10 Christian Athletes Who Were Tebowing Before Tebow – Paul Putz and Art Remillard at Christian History.

No One Else is Coming – Tim Challies at Informing the Reforming.

Poetry

Billy Collins Gleefully Needles Opaque Poets – Daniel Asa Rose at The Observer.

'Dulce Et Decorum Est', a close reading – Santanu Das at the British Library.

Ziplock – Elise Campbell at Curator Magazine.

Coffee Ring – Thom Lloyd-Evand via The Poetry Society.

Aberfan 50 years on: how best to remember the tragedy? – Owen Sheers at The Guardian. Extracts from the poem “The Green Hollow.”

Life and Culture

Resurrecting the Idea of a Christian Society – R.R. Reno at First Things Magazine.

Discovering the Reformation View of Work – Hugh Whelchel at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

The Heart of the Matter – Darlene at Chronic Joy.

The wild era that changed what we wear – Lindsay Baker at BBC.

25 new “Dead Sea Scrolls” revealed – at Fox News Science.

Art and Photography

Fall Feathers – Tim Good at Pics, Poems, and Ponderings.

Late Summer Details – Jack Baumgartner at The School of the Transfer of Energy.

Britain’s Historic Houses, Castles and Gardens from the Air

Painting: Man Reading by Paul Signac (1863-1935).