Faith, Fiction, Friends: Saturday Good Reads

The coronation of Charles III is scheduled for May 6, and the stories abound. Anglotopia explains how the ceremony has been shaped over the centuries. The Critic argues that the coronation is far, far more than a magnificent piece of theater (although it is that, too). The Stone of Scone, which now resides in Scotland except for coronations, has a disputed history, according to Lizzie Enfield at the BBC. And for fun, Weird Medieval Guys tells us that, no, the king doesn’t own all the swans (maybe only queens can do that).

Major media personalities were rather unceremoniously dumped this week. Don Lemon was booted from CNN, and Tucker Carlson from Fox. Media coverage was completely predictable in our red-blue society. Traditional, mainstream media said it was the Carlson emails that had become part of the Dominion voting fraud lawsuit that Fox settled. Conservative media said it was Carlson having the audacity to show the previously unreleased Jan. 6 videos and the attempt of the NeoCons to regain control of the Republican Party. Conservative writer Rod Dreher writes that, whatever you think of Carlson, his swift and brutal end teaches a lesson. See “The Cathedral Defends Itself.”

The media report news, and the media report accepted narratives, sometimes in the guise of news. But what happens when the news shreds the accepted narrative? The Nashville shooting is one example. Another is the worldwide Anglican community, with the recently concluded GAFCON IV providing the news. The community has fractured, although the word “schism” may be too dramatic. But what’s clear is that the Anglicans of Asia and Africa are no longer willing to follow the lead of the Anglicans of Britain and North America. Specifically, they no longer consider the Archbishop of Canterbury as their leader. Richard Ostling at Get Religion wonders, schism or not, what’s next for the disrupted Anglican communion? Sam Ferguson at The Gospel Coalition looks for lessons that can be learned. Lionel Young at Desiring God takes a broader look, and wonders if we’re seeing the end of the so-called “Global South.”

More Good Reads

Poetry

Hand Print at Font de Gaume – David Whyte.

A Sonnet for St. Mark’s Day – Malcolm Guite.

Ukraine

A Book is a Quiet Weapon – Carol Schaeffer at New York Review of Books.

Faith

From Suffering to Simplicity – Melissa Evans at Gentle Reformation.

Should We Use the Words "Old Testament"? – Mitch Chase at Biblical Theology.

The Cosmos Keeps Preaching: My Faith After Forty Years at NASA – Kevin Hartnett at Desiring God.

Writing and Literature

Mark Twain Fought for the South in the Civil War. He Lasted Two Weeks Before He Quit – Claire Barrett at HistoryNet.