Saturday, July 2, 2022

Saturday Good Reads - July 2, 2022


We live in a time when people who should know better are trying to tear away at the foundations of culture and society. One would think that the man most identified with the end of slavery in the United States, for example, might be given a break. But, no, he, too, must be toppled and carted to the trash heap. Ralph Lerner at American Enterprise Institute National Affairs offers a defense of Abraham Lincoln with “Re-imagining the Great Emancipator.” 

My youngest son was a Harry Potter fan, or fanatic. When the first book came out, we heard all the warnings about “promotion of witchcraft.” So, before we okayed the book for our son, I read it, and discovered it was nothing like people were saying. In fact, it was a pretty engaging story. David Mathis at Desiring God read the stories to his sons, and he offers a reflection on Harry Potter at 25

 

Another anniversary: The 1982 movie Blade Runner turns 40 this year. Tom Ward at Esquire writes about why he considers the movie the great science-fiction film of all time

 

A word about the links below on the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court. I make no apology for being pro-life. It comes from my faith. The news media, as expected, has offered an avalanche of outrage about the decision. I can’t look at any secular literary or cultural site without more of the same. The stories below offer a tiny droplet against the tidal wave of our media, and they’re all worth reading.

 

More Good Reads

 

Faith

 

A Conflict of Visions: Comparing Rick Warren’s SBC Speech and Juan Sanchez’s Convention Sermon – Alex DiPrima at 9 Marks.

 

Handel’s Messiah: Sing Hallelujah! – Clint Archer at The Cripplegate.

 

The Dobbs Decision

 

60 Questions for Pro-Choice Christians – Jamie Wilder at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

When the Mob Shows Up the Monday After Roe – Michael Lawrence at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Understanding Dobbs: The Unbearable Wrongness of Roe and Casey – O. Carter Snead at Church Life Journal.

 

Poetry

 

‘Upon These Boughs that Shake Against the Cold’ – Cynthia Erlandson at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Czesław Miłosz's Theological Two-Step – Cynthia Haven at Church Life Journal.

 

American Stuff

 

Why National Honor Matters – John Hood at American Purpose.

 

Writing and Literature

 

In praise of (very) small independent publishers – Micah Mattix at The Spectator.

 

Tell Your Story – Millie Sweeny at Story Warren.

 

From aardvark to woke: inside the Oxford English Dictionary – Pippa Bailey at The New Statesman.

 

Life and Culture

 

A Woke Globe – Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Planting and Tending the Lost Seeds of Learning – Jeremy Larson at Front Porch Republic.

 

Small-Town USA: The mythical place that stifles and nourishes – Phil Christman at The Hedgehog Review.

 

Accountability and Authority: The case for well-run institutions – Arnold Kling at In My Tribe.

 

News Media

 

For print newspapers, one Florida retirement community is a better market than Atlanta, St. Louis, or Portland – Joshua Benton at Nieman Lab.

 

Looking for real news coverage of crisis pregnancy centers? This isn't it ... – Terry Mattingly at Get Religion.

 

Ukraine

 

Ukraine war is not an example of “toxic masculinity” – Sam Ashworth-Hayes at The Critic Magazine.

 

“The Sky is Innocent” – Poet Ostap Slyvynsky at Literary Hub.

 

Africa – Toto x Peter Bence



 Painting: The Latest News, oil on canvas by Charles Spencelayh (1865-1958)

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