Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 518

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. I’m 30. The Sexual Revolution Shackled My Generation. (Louise Perry, The Free Press): “We need to re-erect the social guard rails that have been torn down. To do that, we have to start by stating the obvious: Sex must be taken seriously. Men and women are different. Some desires are bad. Consent is not enough. Violence is not love. Loveless sex is not empowering. People are not products. Marriage is good.” 
    • FYI: the cover image is risque.
  2. Here’s What Happened When I Made My College Students Put Away Their Phones (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, New York Times): “To help sell this policy, I presented in the first lecture of the course a study showing that students who were required to take class notes by hand retained significantly more information than students who used computers. The reason is that with computers, students can type as fast as I speak and strive for verbatim transcripts, but there is almost no mental processing of the class’s content. Conversely, virtually no one can hand write 125 words per minute for 90 minutes. Thus, handwritten notes require simultaneous mental processing to determine the important points that need recording. This processing encodes the material in the brain differently and facilitates longer-term retention. The data on the distracting effect of mobile phones — even when they are face down and turned off — are strong.” 
    • The author is a med school prof at Penn.
  3. Is moderate drinking actually healthy? Scientists say the idea is outdated. (Stanford News): “We have bought into a storyline about alcohol that, when you really look at the facts, is not there,” Stafford said. “There is a mythology about alcohol having positive benefits as well as alcohol being neutral for human health.”
  4. Trump’s Tactics Mean Many International Students Won’t Make It to Campus (Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times): “In China and India, there have been few visa appointments available for students in recent months, and sometimes none at all, according to the Association of International Educators, also known as NAFSA, a professional organization. If visa problems persist, new international student enrollment in American colleges could drop by 30 to 40 percent overall this fall, a loss of 150,000 students, according to the group’s analysis.”
  5. What Happens When an Entire Scientific Field Changes Its Mind (Charles Mann, Scientific American): “[There is] a popular notion of scientific progress as a series of upheavals in which mavericks throw out the entrenched views of the past.… But that’s not how science works. Or, more precisely, it’s not how science works except in two specific, relatively unusual circumstances. The first is when research disciplines are young, thinly populated and just developing instruments of sufficient power to test their initial beliefs, as was the case with the Michelson-Morley experiment and Pasteur’s fermentation. The second, possibly more consequential situation is when scientific findings lead to so much public interest that they become of concern to political authorities.”
  6. A two-parter about China from a political scientist at Johns Hopkins: 
    • The Case for China’s Strength (Yascha Mounk, Substack): “In the United States, the College Board has recently announced that it will drastically reduce the length of reading passages; rather than giving students who are taking the SATs texts that are about 600 words in length, and asking them a few questions about each, they will henceforth be given texts that are about 150 words in length, and only have to answer a single question about each. This means that Chinese high school students taking their English exam now likely face a more challenging test in a foreign language than Americans taking the SAT do in their native tongue. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this page from last year’s exam.”
    • The Cracks in China’s Rise (Yascha Mounk, Substack): “The country’s high modernist ethic allowed it to build tens of thousands of miles of high-speed railway tracks in the course of a couple of decades; but it is also the reason why one year’s favored industrial sectors reliably seem to turn into next year’s sources of waste and overproduction. The country’s extent of centralization creates a giant market increasingly united by shared norms and a common language; but the extent to which local cultures and languages are being flattened also contributes to a growing sense of alienation. None of this should be surprising. When countries are in their first spurt of growth, the advantages of the model are often evident, and its shortcomings invisible. It is when they mature, and the problems they need to solve become increasingly complex, that the drawbacks come into view.”
  7. The Many Jobs of a Religious Leader (Ryan Burge, Substack): “The one really significant finding for me is that very few members of the clergy report that they went straight into ministry as a young person. In fact, 66% of the folks in the sample of religious leaders said that they had a career outside religion before they became a member of the clergy. I’m not sure if the average person knows that — most pastors you see didn’t go straight from Bible College to Divinity School to full-time ministry.”

Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 517: being timely for church and some Chi Alpha props

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Why Being Late to Church Matters (Joe Carter, The Gospel Coalition): “If we believe the service is primarily about what we can get out of it—uplifting music, an encouraging sermon, fellowship with friends—then arriving late makes sense. After all, we can still catch most of the ‘good stuff.’ But if you understand corporate worship as something we do together as the body of Christ—if you see it as our collective offering of praise to our Creator—then showing up late takes on a different meaning entirely. We’re not just showing up late; we’re missing the opportunity to fully participate in something the Lord has designed to form us as his people.”
  2. My experience at the Stanford Veritas Forum: Hennessy and Gelsinger on leadership, ethics and AI (Pedro David Espinoza, Stanford Daily): “The forum was moderated by Elli Schulz ’25, president of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship and vice president of Vox Clara, a student-run magazine partnered with Veritas. It offered a unique opportunity to connect with leaders who have shaped the tech world while reflecting on identity, purpose, ethics, and faith. Elli, whom I’ve known since 2022 through Chi Alpha — one of Stanford’s most diverse and largest Christian organizations — brought calm confidence, lighthearted humor and sharp questions to guide the hour-long conversation. She was the ideal moderator, given her passion for apologetics and dedication to faith and work.” 
    • Including entirely because it makes Chi Alpha look good. 
  3. My Religion is “Something Else” (Ryan Burge, Substack): “…young people don’t know what the word Protestant means anymore, and that’s going to cause major problems in measuring religion going forward.… Among the youngest adults in the sample, almost none of them selected Protestant. In fact, fewer than 10% did so until you get into respondents in their late 30s. In contrast, large numbers simply said they were Christian—at least 20% of those in their late teens and early 20s.”
  4. The Book That Can Inspire Both a Pope and a Politician (Randy Boyagoda, New York Times): “In other words, the two most prominent American Catholics [J. D. Vance and Pope Leo] have each been profoundly influenced by a 1,600-year-old book about why the Roman Empire was falling apart. What makes it so convincing, and why are powerful people still turning to it for guidance and insight?” 
    • The author is an English professor. Recommended by the mother of an alumnus. 
  5. Stop Asking Kids If They’re Depressed (Abigail Shrier, The Free Press): “Kids are wildly suggestible, especially where psychiatric symptoms are concerned. Ask a kid repeatedly if he might be depressed—how about now? Are you sure?—and he just might decide that he is. Introduce ‘gender dysphoria’ into a peer group, and a swath of seventh grade girls are likely to decide they were born in the wrong body. Introduce ‘testing anxiety’ or ‘social phobia,’ or ‘suicidality’ to them, and many teens are likely to decide: I have that, too. There is a reason clinicians keep anorexia patients from socializing unsupervised in a hospital ward; anorexia is profoundly socially contagious.”
  6. Canada Is Killing Itself (Elaina Plott Calabro, The Atlantic): “One day, administering a lethal injection to a patient was against the law; the next, it was as legitimate as a tonsillectomy, but often with less of a wait. MAID now accounts for about one in 20 deaths in Canada—more than Alzheimer’s and diabetes combined—surpassing countries where assisted dying has been legal for far longer.” 
    • A sad read with some genuinely shocking quotes. Unlocked.
  7. What Kids Told Us About How to Get Them Off Their Phones (Lenore Skenazy, Zach Rausch, and Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic): “Children want to meet up in person, no screens or supervision. But because so many parents restrict their ability to socialize in the real world on their own, kids resort to the one thing that allows them to hang out with no adults hovering: their phones.” 
    • Recommended by a student

Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen

  • Forgiveness (Pearls Before Swine)
  • Apostles Quickly Start Acting Pious As They Notice Luke Watching And Taking Notes (Babylon Bee)
  • Panama Playlists: “I found the real Spotify accounts of celebrities, politicians, and journalists. Many use their real names. With a little investigating, I could say with near-certainty: yep, this is that person.  I’ve been scraping their playlists for over a year. Some individuals even have a setting enabled that displays their last played song. I scraped this continuously, so I know what songs they played, how many times, and when.  The Panama Papers revealed hidden bank accounts. This reveals hidden tastes.”

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

The Four Loves: Friendship

The Four Loves by CS Lewis

Some of us are reading through C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves this summer for the Chi Alpha Summer Reading Project. Every other week I’ll post some reflections on the readings. 

First, I should mention that I was supposed to post this last week but got distracted by some travel and lost my sense of which week it was.

Second, I should mention that I posted some thoughts on this chapter back in 2018 on a previous summer read-through. My observations here are slightly different, so consider checking out that previous post (which includes a humorous video).

Today we’re going to look at Lewis’s thoughts on friendship (philia / φιλία). This chapter is full of wisdom, and it also includes some thoughts that might push you a bit. If you haven’t read it (or if you did and are hungry for more), the C. S. Lewis Doodle channel has Lewis giving the lecture upon which this chapter is based. The transcript of his speech is also available. 

With the preamble out of the way, here are some thoughts from this reading:

Some of the most striking insights in this chapter revolve around the unique nature of friendship. Unlike other forms of love, friendship is completely optional and inherently centered on common interests. As Lewis says:

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’

It can be almost anything that triggers a friendship: a hobby, a fandom, a shared experience, or even a shared annoyance. Moving from acquaintanceship to friendship usually requires discovering some commonality. Grasping this explains why some people struggle to make friends (as opposed to companions):

That is why those pathetic people who simply“want friends” can never make any. The very condition of having Friends is that we should want something else besides Friends. Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be “I see nothing and I don’t care about the truth; I only want a Friend,” no Friendship can arise though Affection of course may. There would be nothing for the Friendship to be about; and Friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow-travellers.

And so if you struggle with forging friendships, find something you care about and look for someone who also cares about that thing. 

This suggests that if you are part of Chi Alpha at Stanford, then you’re well-poised to develop great friends. You’ve already got your faith in common, and on top of that you both have the experience of being a student at Stanford, and in addition you have the experience of Chi Alpha. That may already be enough to trigger a friendship, and if you add to that mix even just one more thing like a certain sport or a specific fandom or a shared sense of humor then the potential for a significant friendship is quite high. 

There are, however, barriers. Lewis at one point observes that if the world ever makes “privacy and unplanned leisure impossible” then we will create a world “where all are Companions and none are Friends.” 

That is a keen insight, and it leads me to make this sorrowful observation: Stanford students, you are playing on hard mode. The way we use our phones makes moments of true privacy harder and harder to find (social media is often a blight, and the way some of you share your locations with each other is a source of much needless drama), and the typical Stanford schedule means that unplanned leisure is often nothing more than a dream. If you want to deepen your friendships, rebel against the tyranny of your phone and also against the insane demands Stanford culture puts upon your time.

Despite these challenges, be encouraged! As Lewis reminds us:

…we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another, posting to different regiments, the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret Master of the Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends “You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.”

So if you lack friendships, pray that God opens your eyes to see that potential friends are already around you, and further pray that He blesses you with self-awareness and wisdom as you build those relationships.

And if you have friends, thank God for them and be careful to continue cultivating those relationships.

In either case, slow down (create space for unplanned leisure) and try to relate to your phones and social media in such a way that you’ve got moments of privacy.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 516: God in history & confused physicists

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Why Did God Favor France? (Ross Douthat, New York Times): “[Joan of Arc’s] story is one of the most extensively documented cases of a miraculous-seeming intervention into secular history, calculated to baffle, fascinate and even charm like almost nothing else in Western history. Everything in the story sounds like a pious legend confabulated centuries after the fact. A peasant girl with zero political or military experience shows up at a royal court, announces a divine mission and makes a series of prophecies about what God wants for France that she consistently fulfills — a fulfillment that requires not merely some fortunate happenstance, but her taking command of a medieval army and winning an immediate series of victories over an intimidating adversary with Alexandrine or Napoleonic skill.” 
    • Worth a ponder.
  2. Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, Nature survey shows (Elizabeth Gibney, Nature): “Nature asked researchers what they thought was the best interpretation of quantum phenomena and interactions — that is, their favourite of the various attempts scientists have made to relate the mathematics of the theory to the real world. The largest chunk of responses, 36%, favoured the Copenhagen interpretation — a practical and often-taught approach. But the survey also showed that several, more radical, viewpoints have a healthy following. Asked about their confidence in their answer, only 24% of respondents thought their favoured interpretation was correct; others considered it merely adequate or a useful tool in some circumstances. What’s more, some scientists who seemed to be in the same camp didn’t give the same answers to follow-up questions, suggesting inconsistent or disparate understandings of the interpretation they chose.”
  3. How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students (Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News): “The pastors who shepherded hundreds of high school and college students to Savala’s home were part of Chi Alpha, a Christian ministry that evangelizes on university campuses. Students seek out Chi Alpha to connect with God and each other, through small Bible studies and rollicking worship services — and, for more than 30 years, through Savala. Generations of Chi Alpha leaders hailed him as a spiritual savant who could answer life’s deepest mysteries.” 
    • Heartbreaking. I’ve posted about this scandal in Texas before (in other words, this is the same scandal from a few years ago with additional reporting). Now that it is being covered on NBC the higher-quality journalism is uncovering even more tragic details.
  4. Put Down the Shofar (Brad East, Christianity Today): “You’re likely familiar with shofars blown in public, Seder meals for Passover, and circumcision for baby boys. But as common and well-intended as these may be, I want to explain why I told my student that, yes, his house church was wrong—or at least, misguided.” 
    • A theologically rich article.
  5. The Simple Truth About the War in Gaza (Coleman Hughes, The Free Press): “Amid these developments, it may seem cartoonish, even obscene, to say that in the war between Israel and Hamas, Israel is the good guy. But it’s the truth. And it’s a truth that’s incredibly easy to forget amid the day-to-day coverage of this terrible war.… Israel’s goal is to live in peace with its neighbors. Throughout its 77-year history, it has agreed to half a dozen peace deals with the Palestinians. It voluntarily left Gaza in 2005. If it had any interest in wiping Gaza off the map, it could have done so any time in the last several decades.”
  6. How the Elite Changed Its Mind on Christianity (Emma Camp, Reason): “As the decline in religious attendance has slowed, the past few years have also seen a clear rise in the status of religion. It’s becoming more and more socially acceptable to be religious in elite intellectual spaces—something that could have a real impact on how religion is perceived by everyone else.… Religion became cool again among the educated elite once it gained an association with good aesthetics, high art, and sacred music—not Bush-era Republican soft theocracy.  Today, one can belong to the ideas-making class—an aspiring public intellectual or artist—and still be religious, so long as one steers clear of evangelical kitsch. Whether or not a real religious revival is underway in American public life, one thing is clear: The cool kids aren’t the smug, strident atheists anymore—they’re the Christians.” 
    • Fascinating, although it reminds me I need to write that essay I’ve been mulling over defending low-church Protestantism as the best and most authentic expression of Christianity.
  7. Influencer Missionaries (Lauren Jackson, New York Times): “Churches are turning to the internet to reach new audiences. Evangelical pastors are bringing their famously high-production sermons into vertical video. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is presenting a diverse, younger image to its 1.4 million Instagram followers.” 
    • A short article, not super-informative. Mostly interesting because of the trend reaching the point that the Times is taking note of it. Also because of some of the small vignettes: “Perhaps that explains the celebrity of Father Rafael Capo, 57, a bodybuilding priest in Miami who fuses fitness with faith for his 112,000 Instagram followers. He often posts photos of himself lifting weights and consecrating communion.”

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 515: go deep in community, plus missionaries with shotguns

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Compound Interest in an Attention Economy (Austin Carty, Front Porch Republic): “The prevailing logic of twenty-first century American culture suggests that the pursuit of new experience is, in and of itself, a necessary form of capital without which one is ipso facto barred from the possibility of living a rich life. But my own experience, corroborated by many of the people I’ve talked with, suggests that the pursuit of new experience is, just as often as not, the cause of our despair not the cure; for to keep shifting attention from one thing to the next is almost always to drain one’s spiritual and mental and emotional bank account, not to deliver a meaningful return. Meanwhile, contra popular opinion, there is something life-giving about rooting oneself in a single community—about investing ourselves in a mutual fund, so to speak—and watching the investment slowly grow at compound interest.”
  2. ‘A computer, a radio, a drone and a shotgun’: how missionaries are reaching out to Brazil’s isolated peoples (John Reid and Daniel Biasetto, The Guardian): “Missionary activity now threatens 13 of the 29 isolated peoples that Brazil officially recognises as definitively confirmed, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.” 
    • This was actually a pretty encouraging article overall, despite the use of language like “threatens.”
  3. Trending thoughts about Gaza: 
    • The Price of Flour Shows the Hunger Crisis in Gaza (Amit Segal, The Free Press): “Discussing these findings, The Free Press’s Haviv Rettig Gur highlighted Spitzer’s key challenge in convincing Israelis that Gaza is indeed facing a hunger crisis: ‘It’s hard to convince Israelis of that because literally everything said to them for 22 months on this topic has been a fiction.’ ”
    • Is Gaza Starving? Searching for the Truth in an Information War. (Matti Friedman, The Free Press): “Over the years, Israelis have been accused of fake massacres and rapes. The country’s actions are lied about almost daily by people describing themselves as journalists, analysts, and representatives of the United Nations, often using statistics that are themselves untrue. For people here in Israel, the constant barrage of libel—like the more literal barrages of rockets—is simply a fact of life. After years of this, average Israelis do what people do when confronted with lunatics on the New York subway: They tune it out.… a senior figure in the Israeli military told one of my colleagues at the end of last week that while there isn’t mass starvation as claimed by pro-Hamas propaganda, Gaza really is on the brink this time.”
    • How Israel’s War Became Unjust (Ross Douthat, New York Times): “…Israel has made a strategic choice, trying to separate food distribution from a system that it argues Hamas was exploiting for its own purposes. But if your strategic choice leads to children dying of starvation when the food is available to feed them, then a civilized nation has to make a different choice — even if that makes things easier for its enemies to some degree.”
  4. Till Words Do Us Part (Leah Libresco Sargeant, The Dispatch): “Classically, the marriage vows are not about the particular couple standing at the altar—they’re about the institution the couple is choosing to enter. Classical vows (for better, for worse, etc) have lasted with only minor revisions for a thousand years. They are intended to suit every couple, uncustomized, and they enumerate the promises that must be kept for a marriage to be a marriage. But customized vows frequently mingle serious promises with ones that cannot or should not be kept.”
  5. The Natural Law Is Not Enough. The Natural Law Is All We Have. (Andrew T. Walker, Public Discourse): “…any attempt to construct a moral and political order must grapple with two competing truths: the imago Dei makes moral reasoning possible, but original sin ensures that moral reasoning will often be contested, suppressed, corrupted, or ignored. This is the paradox of our moment. The natural law is written on every heart (Romans 2:15), but hearts are wounded and reason clouded. We have access to moral truth, but not consensus. Hence, the natural law is not enough. But it is still the best we have.”
  6. Desiderata for a Protestant Theology of the Body (Substack): “But I think there are, in fact, distinctively Protestant ways to approach the question of sexuality and reproduction- and I suspect some of the dearth of conversation about these topics reflects a certain Protestant sensibility. It also reflects the boundaries of what might be possible with a Protestant view. So here are a few ‘desiderata’- a fancy way of saying ‘things we ought to consider’, in order to build a Protestant theology of the body.” 
    • The author is a theologian at Gordon-Conwell.
  7. How the Second Great Awakening Helped Make America (Thomas Kidd, The Dispatch): “Americans might assume that the height of their nation’s religious commitment was around its Founding. Some likewise figure that spiritually, it’s been going downhill ever since. But in many ways, America became increasingly religious through the first half of the 19th century.” 
    • Kidd is one of the greatest living evangelical historians.

Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 514: Jephthah, Europe, and the Enchanted Broccoli Forest

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Jesus Is the Key to All Scripture (Peter Leithart, First Things): “We’re incredulous. ‘All things’ in Scripture are fulfilled in him? Really? Everything? Ehud thrusting a sword into obese Eglon? Jael cracking Sisera’s skull with a tent peg? David clipping and heaping up two hundred Philistine foreskins? Jehu gleefully slaughtering sons of Ahab? We dodge and backpedal, protecting Jesus from his hermeneutical excess. ‘Every episode and person contributes to the story of Jesus,’ we say. ‘But not every single person or event is directly about Jesus.’ There’s something to that, but it’s often a cop-out. And it keeps us from grasping the height and depth of Jesus’s glory. Jephthah is a test case.” 
    • An engaging article with strong insights about Jephthah’s story.
  2. I Once Thought Europeans Lived as Well as Americans. Not Anymore. (Tyler Cowen, The Free Press): “I was shocked recently to learn that more Europeans die of heat death—largely due to lack of air-conditioning—than Americans die from gunshot wounds. I’m not saying America isn’t more dangerous in certain ways: We have higher non-gun murder rates and perilous weather patterns, among other problems. But it turns out European bureaucracy is literally deadly.… Circa 2025, my subjective judgment is that American living standards are 20 to 30 percent higher than those in Western Europe. That difference is likely to grow.”
  3. University suspends EBF, Kairos after Title VI investigations (Francesca Pinney, Stanford Daily): “Following student complaints to Stanford’s Title VI Office, the University determined that both houses violated Title VI, the federal law that prohibits harassment and discrimination based on race, color or national origin in educational institutions.” 
    • The details are kind of wild and may shock you if you’re not used to Stanford rhetoric. One student commented, “Tbh, that’s what most of NSO and my first quarter at Stanford felt like, and I was definitely told similar things by folks in my dorm, etc.”
  4. Some reflections on exercise: 
    • Don’t Skip Leg Day or the Lord’s Day (Sean DeMars, The Gospel Coalition): “Exercise prevents me from falling into two serious sins: sloth and idolatry. When I stop caring about my body, I drift toward passivity and excuse-making, and I become slothful. When I overprioritize fitness, I start building my identity around performance or image, which is a form of idolatry. But when fitness is tethered to calling and is viewed as fuel for long-term ministry, exercise finds its rightful place. It’s not ultimate, but it’s important. The heartbeat of this little theology of exercise is that redeemed bodies should be used in the service of joy, love, and mission.”
    • How Exercise Fights Anxiety and Depression (Erik Vance, New York Times): “Decades of research have established that exercise has a positive effect on mental health. In studies of patients with mild to moderate depression, for example, a wide range of exercise regimens has been shown to be as effective as medications like SSRIs (though the best results generally involve a combination of the two).”
  5. Inclusivity In Healthcare Should Not Be Valued Above Our Paramount Mandate: First, Do No Harm (Janhavi Nilekani, Substack): “In the spring of 2022, a 50-year-old grandfather in North Carolina decided that he wanted his daughter’s newborn to suckle at his nipple.… Because this particular man identified as a transgender woman, doctors and academics from Duke University wholeheartedly supported his ‘unique desire’. Indeed, they published a research paper in Breastfeeding Medicine, providing details of the cocktail of hormones and drugs they used. With these, he was able to produce secretions, that were administered to his grandchild. The paper does not have a single sentence about the potential impact on the grandchild. It is an unimaginable breach of ethics. An adult male’s desire to be affirmed as a woman should never be met by feeding an experimental drug-infused substance to newborns with no capacity to consent.… Such experiments are possible only because medicine, in the push towards inclusivity, is forgetting our own core value: first, do no harm.” 
    • Sharing mostly for the shocking introductory story. The entire thing is long and probably does not cover new ground for regular readers. It is well-argued, though.
  6. The Perverse Economics of Assisted Suicide (Louise Perry, New York Times): “There is a very clear problem with assisted suicide in its new guise: The state, with its almighty power, is tasked with both paying for the support of the old and disabled and regulating their dying.… organs of the state that are tasked with solving an impossible financial problem — how to pay for more old people with less money — will be inexorably tugged toward what looks to a mindless bureaucracy like a ‘solution.’ ”
  7. Reason, Revelation, and Revolution (Joseph Loconte, The Dispatch): “Colonial assumptions about natural rights, human equality, religious liberty, government by consent, the right of revolution: Each drew heavily from Locke’s writings, which were considered mandatory reading for educated Americans. As we’ll see, the colonists were heirs of the Lockean tradition. As a result, freedom, reason, and revelation formed a conceptual trinity in the American Revolution. The powerful alliance of these ideas helps to explain the astonishing and enduring influence of the American example. Unfortunately, nonsense talk about the meaning and legitimacy of the American experiment is almost as ingrained in the New Right as in the progressive left.” 
    • A strong defense of Locke against his critics on the right. The author is a history professor and a Christian public intellectual.

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 513: elite colleges, pathologizing personality, and the fastest woman in the world

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Elite Colleges Have Found a New Virtue for Applicants to Fake (Alex Bronzini-Vender, New York Times): “[There is] a new question: ‘Tell us about a moment when you engaged in a difficult conversation or encountered someone with an opinion or perspective that was different from your own. How did you find common ground?’ It’s known as the disagreement question, and since the student encampments of spring 2024 and the American right’s attacks on universities, a growing number of elite colleges have added it to their applications. Caroline Koppelman, a private admissions consultant, has called it the ‘hot new it girl’ of college essays. There’s no evidence that civility mania will improve campus discourse, but it seems poised to widen the inequalities that already plague hyperselective college admissions. The trouble is that the disagreement question — like much of the application process — isn’t built for honesty.”
  2. Nobody Has a Personality Anymore (Freya India, The Free Press): “Today, every personality trait is seen as a problem to be solved. Anything too human—every habit, every eccentricity, every feeling that’s too strong—has to be labeled and explained. Therapy-speak has taken over our language. It is ruining how we talk about romance and relationships, narrowing how we think about hurt and suffering, and now, we are losing the words for who we are. Nobody has a personality anymore.… This is part of a deeper instinct in modern life to explain everything—psychologically, scientifically, evolutionarily. Everything about us is caused, categorized, and can be corrected. We talk in theories, frameworks, systems, structures, drives, motivations, and mechanisms. But in exchange for explanation, we lost mystery, romance, and lately, ourselves.” 
    • Recommended by a student.
  3. Huckabee threatens to declare Israel does not welcome Christians, as visa row blows open (Lazar Berman, Times of Israel): “Given Huckabee’s longstanding support for Israel and close ties with the current government in particular, the rhetoric in his letter represented a shockingly quick deterioration. But the issue at hand — the ability of Christian groups to tour Israel — is close to Huckabee’s heart, given that he has led countless such trips as an evangelical pastor over the past half a century.” 
    • Recommended to me by a student. Quite interesting.
  4. My health and my politics walk into a doctor’s office… (Kim Fellner, New York Times): “The vision of a diverse, equitable and inclusive democracy that seems the best of America to me and my community is locked in an existential battle with a MAGA counter-vision that elevates Whiteness and Christian nationalism, and that seems to be colonizing institutions and culture at warp speed. I did not anticipate, however, that the personal and the political would collide in my doctor’s office.… Over a series of written and in-person conversations, we have been sharing some of the tenets of our respective faiths and the implications for how we navigate the world. She and I have sharply divergent views about when life begins and what happens after we die. She believes that the only true salvation lies in accepting Jesus as one’s savior.”
  5. A Stark Reminder That Sex Differences Matter in Elite Sport (James Smoliga, Persuasion): “The goal was for Kipyegon to become the first woman ever to run a sub‑4 minute mile. Nike set her up with the very best conditions that any athlete could ever expect. Kipyegon ran a mile in 4:06—a remarkable performance by any measure, and a personal best, but well short of the sub‑4 minute goal. While Kipyegon wasn’t directly racing her pacers, they were there to pull her to a time that hundreds of male athletes have already achieved. Rather than charging down the final straightaway alone, leaving the best women in her wake, as she so often does, we saw Kipyegon straining to hang on behind a group of male runners who weren’t even near their limit, as they turned around to cheer her on. This race matters because it offered something exceedingly rare: an honest, direct comparison of male and female performance at the highest level.”
  6. Israeli Researcher Says Stanford Shunned and Sabotaged Him After Hamas Attack (Maya Sulkin, The Free Press): “[Former IDF officer] Laps alleges that the research assistant in the Danny Chou Lab told Laps during their first interaction on his first day never to speak to her. She allegedly delayed his orders for lab equipment, made him sit elsewhere at lunch, and reassigned her custodial duties to him. Colleagues followed her lead, ostracizing him from the lab community, the suit claims. The most explosive allegation is that the same research assistant, Terra Lin, tampered with Laps’s research.” 
  7. What YouTube Can’t Teach Students About Jesus (Dylan Musser, Christianity Today): “‘Who (or what) has shaped your faith the most?’ As a campus minister, I have asked this question to many college students over the years. Lately, I have noticed a shift in their answers.  This past fall, I sat across from Luke—a freshman at Vanderbilt University. We were chatting over tacos when I posed the question. I watched the gears spin in his head. Would it be a church from back home? A great book? An older mentor who discipled him? Maybe his parents? He leaned back. ‘Youtube.’ I stared blankly, trying my best not to show my surprise.” 
    • The author leads the Navigators at Vanderbilt.

Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen

  • The Joy of Cooking Your Sprite (Jenée Desmond-Harris, Slate): “After a day walking around the dusty grounds, riding a giant swing, and dressing up for old-timey photos, we made it back to the car exhausted and thirsty. And in the back seat (I don’t know if it had been purchased as part of post-outing lunch or was just rolling around back there) was a six-pack of Sprite that had been, well, cooking all day. We each cracked one open, and that’s when I realized something important was happening. It was so good! The soda was hot but somehow still refreshing. The sweetness was softened and the bubbles felt bigger and more luxurious—not like the sharp, sneeze-triggering ones you get when it’s cold. We locked eyes and smiled mischievously. It felt rebellious (look, we were very sheltered kids) and wildly innovative. ‘Cooked Sprite’ was born.” 
  • What Is ‘Aura Farming’? This Tween Will Show You. (Benjamin Hoffman, New York Times): “On Tuesday, the government in Riau, citing the impact of the video and the fact that he had been ‘inspiring local kids to embrace and preserve their traditions,’ named Dika as a tourism ambassador for the province, and its governor, Abdul Wahid, awarded him a scholarship for 20 million rupiah (around $1,200) for his education. Dika also performed a rendition of his dance along with Governor Wahid and other officials.”

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

The Four Loves: Affection

The Four Loves by CS Lewis

Some of us are reading through C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves this summer for the Chi Alpha Summer Reading Project. Every other week I’ll post some reflections on the readings. 

I have written about this chapter once before, back in 2018. My remarks here are fresh (although the opening section is very similar). 

YouTube has something amazing in relation to this week’s reading: a 1957 recording of C. S. Lewis himself giving the lecture upon which this chapter is based. I’ve embedded the video, and you can read the transcript as well. You should at least listen to a few minutes if you’ve never heard the voice of Lewis before.

The channel hosting this video is worth checking out. It’s called CSLewisDoodle and it “doodles selected essays by C.S. Lewis in order to make them easier to understand.” It’s got doodled treatments of Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and more. Consider subscribing to it.

On to affection. Lewis is discussing the type of love described by the Greek word storge (στοργή), a love which we describe using the words affection or fondness. 

The word storge does not appear directly in the New Testament, although it does appear as a root of other words. In both Romans 1:31 and 2nd Timothy 3:3 the word astorgos (ἄστοργος) is rendered by various translations as “heartless” or “unloving” or “without natural affection.” And in Romans 12:10 we find the word philostorgos (φιλόστοργος) which means “devoted”.

I provide this linguistic data merely by way of background. It doesn’t affect Lewis’ discussion of affection except to explain why he’s not quoting a bunch of Bible verses.

There is one section in this chapter that always strikes me:

If people are already unlovable a continual demand on their part (as of right) to be loved—their manifest sense of injury, their reproaches, whether loud and clamorous or merely implicit in every look and gesture of resentful self-pity—produce in us a sense of guilt (they are intended to do so) for a fault we could not have avoided and cannot cease to commit. They seal up the very fountain for which they are thirsty. If ever, at some favoured moment, any germ of Affection for them stirs in us, their demand for more and still more petrifies us again.

What an arresting phrase: “they seal up the very fountain for which they are thirsty.”

I once had a cat who became so obese that he could no longer lick himself clean. And so for a season he stank. Wherever he went, the smell of an outhouse followed him. And yet he was desperate for affection. He would approach people to receive pats and his stench would drive them away. 

And here is where the story becomes fascinating: in his sadness he developed the habit of sleeping in his litter box. I was amazed: the poor creature had found a way to make his stench even worse. His habits made his desires unattainable.

I am pleased to report that eventually his behavior changed, he lost weight, his stench decreased, and he received affection. He became much happier. 

I have met people who do the equivalent of sleeping in their litter box. They live odious lives. In the most extreme cases they undermine their friendships and are baffled that they find themselves alone. In the passage excerpted above Lewis talks about people who are so needy it is repellent, and that is one way we can carry a stench around with us but it is hardly the only one. There are many milder cases. Consider a young woman who is unwilling to be vulnerable beyond a certain point and is surprised that her friendships lack depth. Or consider a young man unwilling to risk rejection who is then disappointed that his friendships never blossom into romance. Or picture someone who comes late to church and leaves early and is frustrated that they lack community. In each case, they “seal up the very fountain for which they are thirsty.”

Take a moment to evaluate your relationships. Is there an absence of affection or camaraderie which frustrates you? It may simply be that you haven’t found your people yet (and Lewis will talk more about friendship in the next chapter). But it is also possible that you are doing the equivalent of sleeping in your litter box.

If you are frustrated that you are not experiencing the affection you desire, spend some time in prayerful contemplation and ask God to reveal any self-limiting habits you have developed and to guide you into better habits. Your now is not your forever — my cat changed and so can we.

And if you haven’t already, read the “affection” chapter in The Four Loves and watch the Lewis doodle video above — they may provide you with some insight.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 512: denominations are good and smart people are bad

On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. Why Denominations Are Good, Actually (Eric Tonjes, Mere Orthodoxy): “I often hear nondenominational brothers and sisters talk about denominations as if they are the source of divisions in the church. Certainly, the church is divided, in both tragic and unavoidable ways. Some divisions are the product of sin and selfishness. Others are temporary but necessary because of disagreements about Scripture and practice. While the church still shares a spiritual unity, it is institutionally split, and we should rightly long to see it more unified than it is. The thing that puzzles me is the way many people think that by leaving any larger denomination or affiliation group they are somehow helping to increase the unity of the church. If your family is divided, disowning everybody isn’t going to make it more united.”
  2. People with higher cognitive ability have weaker moral foundations, new study finds (Eric W. Dolan, PsyPost): “People with higher cognitive ability tend to endorse moral values less strongly across the board, according to new research published in the journal Intelligence. The pattern held across two independent studies and did not differ by gender. These findings challenge popular assumptions that smarter people hold stronger or more ‘enlightened’ moral values.” 
    • I actually began to chuckle at the article’s repeated insistence that “most people assume smarter people are more moral.” Fact check: false. Smart people assume smarter people are more moral, sure. But most people? It’s hard not to notice that clever people are really good at talking themselves into whatever they need to talk themselves into. And that means they’re good at rationalizing selfish and bad behavior.
  3. Heartbreak and Heroism in Hill Country, Texas (Dan Crenshaw, The Free Pres): “The Guadalupe River that snakes through downtown Kerrville averages a depth of just 1.65 feet. But between 5:15 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. that day, it surged from two feet to 34 feet, becoming a literal wall of water that swept through Kerr County communities.… One never knows if they will be a hero when the time comes. Only a test of tragedy will be the judge. Many think they will act with courage, but fail. Many think they will lack the courage, but instead become the hero we need. Neighbors saved neighbors. Ordinary people became heroes. That is the spirit of Texas. No flood can ever wash it away.” 
    • That’s the same Dan Crenshaw who serves as a congressman. Many amazing and heartbreaking anecdotes in this brief article.
  4. The Death of Partying in the U.S.A.—and Why It Matters (Derek Thompson, Substack): “Between 2003 and 2024, the amount of time that Americans spent attending or hosting a social event declined by 50 percent. Almost every age group cut their party time in half in the last two decades. For young people, the decline was even worse. Last year, Americans aged 15-to-24 spent 70 percent less time attending or hosting parties than they did in 2003.”
  5. Economic Nihilism (Julia Steinberg, Palladium Magazine): “Economic nihilism is then the ideology of the young, aspirant class, willing to put in two years—but only two years—at whatever firm is prestigious upon graduation. Economic nihilism is the ideology that celebrates taking shortcuts. The economy itself is abstracted away, what’s left is a salary or its equivalent in crypto payouts.”
  6. Have Mercy on Me, a Zynner (Luke Simon, Christianity Today): “Your soul no longer pants for living water (Ps. 42:1) because the buzz has numbed its thirst. We’re trading spiritual dependence for a chemical calm, and we’re left with faith without hunger, worship without depth, and spirituality without surrender. We become what Jesus warned against—not whitewashed tombs but white-pouched ones.”
  7. “When people argue against free will, you often see them smuggle in some intriguing moral assumptions.” (Rob Henderson, Twitter) 
    • The post has both text and a two-minute video of the author saying the same thing (taken from a longer video). The text is a good summary of the video, but the video gets a lil’ spicy at the end in a way the written text does not.

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.

Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 511: CPS, prosperity, & journalism



On Fridays — sometimes Saturdays when Friday is a holiday — I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.

Things Glen Found Interesting

  1. ICE Goes After Church Leaders and Christians Fleeing Persecution (Andy Olsen, Christianity Today): “The pastor asks if he can go with them or even follow them. ‘They need me,’ he says. An agent says the pastor cannot go with them. Torosian tells the agents that the couple was persecuted in Iran and fled because of their faith. The agents don’t respond. ‘They came here for freedom, not like this,’ Torosian tells the agents. ‘I know you are doing your job, but shame on you. Shame on this government.’”
  2. Does CPS Investigate One Third of All Children in the US? (Maxwell Tabarrok, Substack): “Does CPS investigate one out of every three American children? The answer to this one is not available directly in the primary source reports and the underlying data is only available after an application for research use, so we’ll have to trust a group of researchers at the Washington University school of public health. They download and de-duplicate the master data files from 2003–2014 and confirm that 37% of American children are the subject of at least one screened-in referral to CPS from ages 0–18.”
  3. Have You Heard the Good News? (Clifford S. Asness and Michael R. Strain, The Free Press): “Yes, we have real problems. But widen the aperture, and you’ll see that there has never been a better time to be alive than the present day.… a relative standard will always find relative poverty. But using an absolute standard finds that income poverty is below 6 percent. On a consumption basis, well over 20 percent of households were in poverty in the 1960s, and 11 percent were in poverty in 1990. Today, the consumption poverty rate is around 1 percent.”
  4. When We Started To Lie (Matti Friedman, The Free Press): “People writing letters complaining about press errors and demanding corrections, then and now, miss the point: These aren’t errors. They’re the result of the press doing a different job correctly.”
  5. Duke Law Journal Sent a Secret Memo to Minority Applicants Telling Them They’d Get Extra Points for Writing About Their Race (Aaron Sibarium, Washington Free Beacon): “When the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in 2023, it said that colleges and universities could not use essays as a Trojan horse for racial preferences. The documents from Duke illustrate how a top law review has skirted that directive, creating a points-based system that foregrounds race and could put the law school in legal jeopardy.… The packet was overseen by journal editor in chief Gabriela Nagle Alverio, who received her B.A. in Gender and Sexuality Studies from Stanford University…”
  6. You Don’t Need the Same Politics to Surf Together (David Litt, The Free Press): “But over the years, Matt and I got to know each other better, and the better we got to know each other, the clearer it became that we had absolutely nothing in common. He was into Ultimate Fighting; I was into Ultimate Frisbee. He was covered in tattoos; I was covered in J.Crew. His definition of a workplace injury was death by violent electric shock; mine was carpal tunnel syndrome.”
  7. Where I Learned the Power of Looking at Everything (Rachel Kushner, New York Times): “Having arrived early for the ceremony, I lingered near Sather Gate, with its ornate patinated metalwork, and then headed toward Doe Library, where I used to not study and stared at people instead. Everything glowed with a kind of institutional grandeur. My superego scolded me further: ‘Look where you were! The best public university in the world, only to squander your luck!’ The beauty of the campus, which I had no memory of appreciating, seemed almost crushing in its majesty.”

Why Do You Send This Email?

In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.

Disclaimer

Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.