Saturday, May 18, 2024

Saturday Good Reads - May 18, 2024


If there was anyone who had the greatest influence on me as a young Christian, it was the theologian Francis Schaeffer and his book and video series How Shall We Then Live?. This past week was the 40th anniversary of his death, and John Stonestreet and Timothy Padgett at Breakpoint have a remembrance.

Christianity may be experiencing a comeback. When Russell Brand announced he had become a Christian, eyebrows went up. When he was baptized, eyebrows went up even more; was he really serious? As it turns out, yes, he was. He’s not alone. Jane Stannus at The Spectator notes that all kinds of “unorthodox folks” are embracing Christianity these days, and she cites a reason: the growing awareness that Christianity is the last bulwark against society pitching itself into the abyss.

 

Douglas Murray, the writer, social commentator, and outspoken defender of Western culture (and Israel), received the Alexander Hamilton Award from the Manhattan Institute last week. His acceptance speech, “What It Means to Choose Life,” is a marvel. The Free Press has printed the text

 

Campus Protests

 

Hysterics for Hamas – Heather MacDonald at City Journal. 

 

Modern Protest Culture is Crippled by Internet Brain – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.

 

Why the Gaza protests are worrying – editorial by The Spectator.

 

Israel

 

What Hamas Wants in Postwar Gaza – Matthew Levitt at Foreign Affairs

 

The Insane Anti-Jewish Literary Blacklist – Seth Mandel at Commentary.

 

Culture

 

Duke Commencement Address: ‘The Uncomfortable Feeling of Awkward Humor is Okay – Jerry Seinfeld at The Free Press.

 

Judi Dench on trigger warnings: “If you’re that sensitive, don’t go to the theatre” – Laura Rutkowski at Radio Times.

 

American Stuff

 

Ann Hill Carter Lee – JoAnna McDonald at Emerging Civil War.

 

Interest Costs Just Passed Defense and Medicare – Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

 

The Jessie Scouts: America’s Original Special Forces Unit – Patrick O’Donnell at CrimeReads.

 

Poetry

 

Working for Life Beyond the Words – Sarah Reardon at Front Porch Republic.

 

Autumn,” poem by Joseph Bottum – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Faith

 

The Big Impact of Little Faith – John Pletcher at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics.

 

How Could a Good God… – Jacob Crouch.

 

Writing and Literature

 

Creating a Sense of Place in Fiction – Caroline Cleveland at Writer’s Digest.

 

Alice Munro was the writer’s writer – Megan Gibson at The New Statesman.

 

News Media

 

News publishers sound alarm on Google’s new AI-infused search, warn of ‘catastrophic’ impacts – Oliver Darcy at CNN.

 

In Christ Alone – Michael W. Smith



 
Painting: Man Reading, oil on canvas (1851) by Jean-Louis-Ernest Messonnier (1815-1891); the Clark Art Museum, Willliamstown, Mass.

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