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.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- Church Worship Music You Need To Know About (Greg Atkinson, personal blog): “I… probably experience music and worship in more churches yearly, than just about anyone else…”
- Divorce Continues To Take A Psychological Toll on Kids (no byline, Guardian): ponder anew Malachi 2:13–16 and Matthew 19:1–8.
- ‘There isn’t really anything magical about it’: Why more millennials are avoiding sex (Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post): Your peers are less sexually active than you assume. They “are more than twice as likely to be sexually inactive in their early 20s as the previous generation was.”
- Are Soaring Levels of Income Inequality Making Us A More Polarized Nation? (Christos Makridis, The Conversation): “We all realize that greater inequality has tangible implications for who wins and loses in society. However, all these pieces of evidence suggest it may also induce more extreme political attitudes and ideologies.” Note the author — one of our own Chi Alpha students! It’s also on AP’s the Big Story, so it might get syndicated. Get your selfies with Christos now before he becomes famous.
- College Students Protest, Alumni’s Fondness Fades, and Checks Shrink (Anemona Hortocollis, NY Times): we should not be surprised when things that polarize students also polarize alumni.
Things Glen Found Diverting
- No school has more US Olympians than Stanford, and it’s not even close (Cork Gains, Business Insider): this list includes alumni. Sadly, none of them are or were involved in Chi Alpha.
- How long is your list? (Dilbert)
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.