On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues, with a preference for content from academics and influential voices. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom.
A Pastoral Exhortation
Another senseless shooting. In Matthew 24:12, Jesus warns that “because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” Wickedness causes love to grow cold by two means: allure and despair. The church tends to focus on those forms of wickedness which entice us as a temptation, but there is also a wickedness that demoralizes. It leaves Christians feeling drained and helpless. This wickedness, with which we are all too familiar, can make a Christian’s love grow cold. Do not be deceived. Recognize this for the demonic work that it is and do not let it lead you astray. Cling to Christ. Let Him be your comfort, your peace, and your wisdom. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:21).
Things Glen Found Interesting
- The Battle For Religious Liberty (George Wood, PE News): Dr. Wood is the leader of the Assemblies of God, which sponsors Chi Alpha. See also this GetReligion piece on religious liberty — highly recommended
- Of interest to academics
- The Effects of Listing Authors in Alphabetical Order: A Survey of the Empirical Evidence (Matthias Weber, SSRN): “Overall, there is convincing evidence that alphabetical discrimination exists and that researchers react to it.”
- Results-Free Review (Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution): “A potentially simple and yet powerful way to mitigate publication bias is for journals to commit to publish manuscripts without any knowledge of the actual findings.” See also the journal article upon which the post is based.
- A Rant on Peer Review (George Borjas, personal blog): “Next time you hear about ‘professional consensus in peer-reviewed research,’ do as I do: Roll your eyes.” The author is a Harvard economist.
- Unintended Help For Male Professors (Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed). See also Do Men Abuse Parental Leave? (Christopher Shea, Ideas Market).
- Trump: Tribune of Poor White People (Rod Dreher, The American Conservative): “And I’m always left thinking: if this is the quality of thought of a Harvard Law graduate, then our society is truly doomed.” This is an interview with the author of Hillbilly Elegy and is much more wide-ranging and insightful than the title leads you to believe . Both the journalist and the interviewee are Christians.
- In Defense of Third-Party Voting (Zac Crippen, personal blog): recommended, difficult to excerpt
- Amusing: This Is How We Work (Owlturd Comix): apologies for the publisher’s title.
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).
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 you have a non-Stanford friend who might be interested in these emails, they can sign up at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/subscribe, and if you want to view the archives they are at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links.