Saturday Good Reads

It’s unusual for a story about a missionary to go viral on social media, but one did this past week. John Allen Chau was killed as he attempted to land at an island that’s part of India but is protected against outsiders by Indian law. Twitter went crazy, mostly in expressing sentiments against the missionary. Even the Wall Street Journal had an op-ed that was surprisingly snarky and rather ill-informed. Julia Duin at Get Religion takes a look at press coverage. Thomas Kidd at The Gospel Coalition provides a good review of press coverage as well. Dave Hare, himself a missionary in Cameroon, considers three internet accusations against missionaries. Tim Challies has five points to consider about Chau's death. And Jordan Standridge at The Cripplesgate draws 10 lessons from Chau’s death.

I discovered a number of good posts this week about generational wisdom and an appreciation of what music can mean. Here are two: Zach Morgan at Thin Difference cites three lessons he learned from his grandfather, while Martha Orlando talks about singer Roy Clark. 

A new book gathering considerable interest is The War Before the War by Andrew Delbanco. It’s a history of pre-Civil War America, focusing on the Fugitive Slave laws and how the debate was the run-up to the war. He doesn’t draw connections to contemporary politics, but a review by Alan Jacobs at The Weekly Standard uses the book to raise some profound questions.

More Good Reads

Life and Culture

The Long Shadows Cast by ‘Nightmare Alley’ – K.V. Turley at The Imaginative Conservative.

What the Popularity of DNA Tests Really Tells Us – Philip Bunn at Intercollegiate Review.

Why Cities Matter: A Love-Hate Relationship with Los Angeles – Steve Lindsey at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

How Did Shane End Up? – Victor Davis Hanson at National Review.

Poetry

Agape – Annie Nardone at Literary Life.

Art and Photography

Fall Water and Autumn Midas – Tim Good at Pixels.

Faith

She Had a Reputation – Lynn Mosher.

Seven Lessons for Evangelical Scholars in the Secular Academy – Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

50 Years of Effete and Infertile Liturgical Culture is Enough – Anthony Esolen at Crisis Magazine.

Writing and Literature

When Publishers or the Public Reject You – Peggy Rosenthal at Image Journal.

Reading as a Way of Life - On Anne Bogel's 'I'd Rather Be Reading' – Michele Morin at Living Our Days.

We Need to Destroy the Blurbing Industrial Complex – Marie Myung-Ok Lee at The Millions.

American Stuff

How Do We Restore the American Order? – John Horvat at The Imaginative Conservative.

In 10 images, the Irish Brigade monument at Gettysburg – John Banks’ Civil War Blog.

British Stuff

John of Salisbury and the Ideal Scholar – Christine Norvell at The Imaginative Conservative.

Wrapping Paper: C-Mission 2017 Christmas Advert

Painting: Man reading in a cabin, woodcut on SimiLi japon paper by Rockwell Kent (or someone after Rockwell Kent), 1920.