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.
To that end, on weekends (usually Fridays but last night we had alumni over for homecoming and it turned into a five hour party, so this time Saturday) I’ve been sharing articles/resources I have found helpful recently in thinking about broader cultural and societal issues (be sure to see the disclaimer at the bottom). May these give you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar. Past emails are archived at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links
Without further ado, I give you the interesting things:
- Muslim Migrants, Meet Christian Gypsies (Jillian Melchior, Wall Street Journal): this is pretty beautiful.
- Moral Responsibility and Emotional Rejection of God (William Lane Craig): Craig, who we hosted on campus years ago, answers a tough question. I think it’s amusing how often he directs the reader to another one of his books, but I don’t guess he had an alternative if he wanted to keep his answer short enough to be readable.
- Hooking Up Is Easy To Do (Katie Van Syckle, NY Mag): “I’ve come back to my alma mater because it sits at the crossroads of two major themes of modern-day college sex: hookup culture, which seems as rampant as I remember it, and sexual assault… Lately, researchers have been making an obvious but controversial point: that these two trend lines are in fact related — that hooking up puts students at higher risk of having nonconsensual sex, and that there are elements of this culture… that are more complicated than ‘yes means yes.’”
- See also The Game Is Rigged: Why Consensual Sex Can Still Be Bad (Rebecca Traister, NY Mag). This one has pretty earthy language.
- How Friendships Change In Adulthood (Julie Beck, The Atlantic): there’s a lot in this article. I was struck by the idea that friendships are either active, dormant, or commemorative.
- Joel Osteen: Would Jesus Christ Be A Good President? (David Wallis, New York Observer): the title is super-click-bait. It’s a short, interesting interview with Joel Osteen, pastor of the largest church in America.
- Treasures On Earth: How Religion Is Redistributing The World’s Wealth (Morgan Lee, Christianity Today): misleading title, interesting data.
- Quick Links:
- An ocean full of nope. New life principle: never go to sea in an inflatable raft.
- Economics Has A Replication Problem (Real Clear Science)
- Religious Freedom Retreats In Many Countries, But Not All (Economist).
- A Progressive Defense of Tax-Exempt Status For Churches (Approaching Justice)
- Why Is The American Prison Population Going Up So Much? Surprising (to me) answer: it has little to do with drug policy.
- How To Explain the KGB’s Amazing Success In Identifying CIA Agents In The Field? (Salon)
- Killing As A Moral Good: about just war theory
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.