Saturday Good Reads

Today is not only Halloween; it's also Reformation Day. Stephen Nichols at Ligonier Ministries explains what Reformation Day is all about: "A single event on a single day changed the world."

It’s the 400^th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in what is now Massachusetts. It may not be politically correct to talk about it, but it was a relatively small endeavor that had a momentous impact. Nathaniel Philbrick at American Heritage discusses the event’s place in history, and James Panero at New Criterion looks at the Plymouth Rock itself. 

Is it possible to study history as part of a pursuit of wisdom? These days, that would get you labeled, at a minimum, as patriarchal. But that’s how millions of us studied history, even if we didn’t know at the time. Andrew Kern at the Circe Institute says it’s not only still possible, but there are schools who are doing it.  

 

“Follow the science.” “Trust the science.” If we’ve heard that once, we’ve heard it a thousand times during this year of COVID-19. The problem we’ve all faced and experienced is that – sometimes – the science is wrong, or the experts representing science are wrong. If it’s done nothing else, the 2020 virus has shown all of us that science, scientists, and the experts are fallible. Michael Story and Stuart Ritchie at UnHerd discuss how the experts messed up on COVID. 

 

More Good Reads

 

Poetry

 

Louise Glück and the Return from Oblivion – Ewa Chrusciel at Church Life Journal.

 

Uppercase – Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

Your Memory Starts to Slip – Jeff Eardley at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Driving by the Lake with John Ashbery – Douglas Crase at Literary Hub. 

 

Micropoetry and the Twitterverse – Edward Alport at The High Window (H/T: Paul Brookes).

 

Life and Culture

 

The Long Road to National Healing – Mark Mitchell at Front Porch Republic.

 

Why should The Strand (bookstore) survive? – Douglas Murray at The Spectator US.

 

What is Digital Authoritarianism? – Jason Thacker.

 

Writing and Literature

 

‘I can always find solace in Middle-earth and Tolkien’s imagination’ – Jeffrey Deaver at The Guardian. 

 

How Writers Learn to Trust Themselves – Hilary Mantel at Literary Hub.

 

Faith

 

3 Causes for Political Tension between Christians – Jonathan Leeman and Andy Naselli at Crossway. 

 

The Church is Not a TV Show – Seth Lewis.

 

The Nature and Purpose of Government – Kevin DeYoung at The Gospel Coalition.

 

The Rose – The King’s Singers

Painting: Reading, oil on canvas by Ada Thilen (1852-1933).