It started during the Christmas holidays. A 20-something “influencer” on X was shocked to learn that the new Christopher Nolan film was based on a 2,000-year-old poem he had never heard of. The poem was Homer’s The Odyssey, and he had never heard of Homer, either, which may tell you about the state of education in the United States more than it does about the influencer. Spencer Klavan, who co-writes “The New Jerusalem” at Substack with his father Andrew, weighed in. So did Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft. (For the record, I studied The Iliad in ninth grade and The Odyssey in tenth. I was educated in public schools.)
It's a good thing that the debate over grooming gangs in Britain is still generating controversy, argument, and upset for the British government, but you don’t want to know the sickening details of what went on for far too long and was aided and abetted by police departments, town councils, social workers, the news media, and the national government as well. Sam Ashworth-Hayes and Charlie Peters at The Telegraph explain how the grooming gangs scandal was covered up. Victoria Smith at The Critic Magazine discuses how the grooming gangs scandal upends virtually all of the establishment’s accepted narratives, while Luca Watson takes on the people who are still trying to deny anything happened.
Some 40 years ago, I first read Norman Maclean’s short novel A River Runs Through It. It’s a beautifully written book about a Presbyterian minister and his two sons – and fly fishing. I’m not a fisherman, but I loved this book. Last year, a biography of Maclean was published, and Ralph Wood at Church Life Journal has a rather beautiful review.
More Good Reads
Life and Culture
Colonization, Replaceable Man, and Love of One’s Own – N.S. Lyons at The Upheaval.
The Machine in the Garden – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.
When is a fire an earthquake? – Charles Lipson at The Spectator.
The Hope of the American Republic: Local Coffee Shops – Dennis Uhlman at Front Porch Republic.
British Stuff
Archbishop of Canterbury no longer world Anglican leader in shake-up plan – Kaya Burgess at The Times of London.
Anglican Church reforms signal Britain’s fading power – Niall Gooch at UnHerd.
Art
Louis Leopold Boilly – Monochrome masterpiece – George Bothamley at Art Every Day.
Flashing – artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.
Writing and Literature
I’m ready for you! – Raymond MacKenzie at London Review of Books on Honore de Balzac.
The Russian Roots of American Crime Fiction – and the O.G. – Joseph Finder at CrimeReads.
Poetry
Song Version of ‘The Day the Poetry Died’ by Steve Shaffer – Society of Classical Poets.
“Winter: A Dirge,” poem by Robert Burns – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Building the Trampoline – Luke Harvey at Rabbit Room Poetry.
“Eldorado,” poem by Edgar Allan Poe – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Faith
Facing a New Year of Grief – David Bannon at Front Porch Republic.
The Illusion of Freedom in the Digital Age – Samuel D. James at Digital Liturgies.
Should We Pray for Presidents with Whom We Disagree? – Mark Daniels.
Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth’s Doctrine of Christian Warfighting – Miles Smith at Providence Magazine.
Faith More Precious Than Gold – Mission House
Painting: Portrait of a Man, oil on canvas (circa 1828) by Sheldon Peck (1797-1868).
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