Saturday, April 28, 2018

Saturday Good Reads


Some 10 years ago, I attended a training seminar for elders and deacons at church that featured a well-known pastor from Nashville. The surprise was his language and how peppered it was with four-letter profanities. I don’t remember a single idea he articulated, but I remember the profanities. John Piper asks the question we were too polite to ask at the seminar: does profanity make us more relevant (and cool) in reaching the culture?

It’s been building for years, perhaps decades. The humanities in our colleges and universities are in serious trouble. This is no longer the worry of only the conservative side the political spectrum. Eric Bennett, a professor of English at Providence College, lets loose in The Chronicle of Higher Educationand puts the blame squarely where it belongs.

What’s the No. 1 bestselling book in America right now? The 12 Rules for Living by Jordan Peterson. Guess which book doesn’t appear on The New York Times Bestseller List? We’ve known for a long time that the Times doesn’t include “overtly religious” books (they would occupy 9 of the first 10 slots) but Jordan Peterson is not a religious writer. The conservative National Review has the story.

Charity Craig tells a story of a man who went from slave to landowner, Vintage posts photographs from the Work Projects Administration of former slaves in the late 1930s, 18thcentury missionary David Brainerd has a 300th birthday, Ann Kroeker suggests you write your own obituary, and more.

Faith


Heroism Deconstructed: Serving Faithfully through Our Work– Hugh Whelchel at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

Love in Action– Kenneth Kovacs at On the Way.

American History

David Brainerd’s 300thBirthday– Thomas Kidd at The Gospel Coalition.

Reconsidering William Jennings Bryan– Michael Martin at The Imaginative Conservative.


1989: A Tale of Three Cities & the End of the Old New World Order– Joseph Mussomeli at The Imaginative Conservative.

Foraging Through History– Charity Singleton Craig.

British History

Shakespeare’s Dark Lady of Spitalfields– Niall McDevitt at Spitalfields Life.

Poetry

The Years Were Patient with Me– Jeanne Murray Walker at Image Journal.

Long Enough– Jim Schmotzer at The Faithful Skeptic.

Dark Dancing– Helen at His Refuge Wings.

Art and Photography

Spring’s Popping– Tim Good at National Geographic / Your Shot.

Life and Culture

Is Modernity a Success?– Alastair Roberts at Alastair’s Adversaria. 

Dear Humanities Profs: We Are the Problem– Eric Bennett at The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Children’s Crusades– Alan Jacobs at Snakes and Ladders.

A Sky of Parchment Made– A.G. Harmon at Image Journal.


Writing and Literature

Write Your Own Obituary– Ann Kroeker.

The Deepest Dive in Antarctica Reveals a Sea Floor Teeming with Life



Image: Girl Reading, illustration for the cover of Good Housekeeping Magazine by Coles Phillips (1915).

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