On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom.
This edition is coming out early in the morning because I’m about to hop on a plane to preach at a retreat in Virginia. Your prayers for fruitful ministry are appreciated!
Things Glen Found Interesting
- Red Tape: China Wants To Constrict Christian Activities With 26 New Rules (Sarah Zylstra, Christianity Today): there are interesting parallels between the way Stanford regulates students and how states such as China and Russia regulate their citizens. #seriouslytho
- How Christianity Flourishes (Jared Wilson, Gospel Coalition): “I cannot find anywhere in the New Testament where it teaches Christians how to be a majority presence in the world.”
- Jonah Goldberg On Why He Won’t Vote For Hilary or Trump (Seth Stevenson, Slate): the Solzhenitsyn quote alone makes the article worthwhile.
- Why Believing In Miracles Could Be Hazardous To Your Health (David Briggs, Washington Post): if you think medicine and faith are opposed to each other, you have bad theology. Matthew 9:12 seems relevant.
- Don’t Take A Test On A Hot, Polluted Day (Alex Tabbarok, Marginal Revolution): “I find both of these results hard to believe which doesn’t necessarily mean that they shouldn’t be believed.”
- Is globalization bad for the global poor? This study ran an experiment to find out. (Vox): “Something as complicated as globalization is never going to be just good or just bad. We need to divide the good and the bad, and figure out how to address the latter without eliminating the former.”
- Undoing Insularity: A Small Study of Gender Sociology’s Big Problem (Charlotta Stern, Econ Journal Watch): “gender sociology insulates its sacred beliefs from ideas that challenge those beliefs, even when the challenging ideas are very well-grounded. The sacred beliefs are to the effect that the biological differences between the sexes are minor and that the cultural differences between (or among) the genders are the result of social processes and have little basis in biological differences.”
Things Glen Found Amusing
- The Beard Battle That Almost Split Christendom (Luke T. Harrington, Christianity Today): “a beard may seem like an unremarkable thing—just a bit of protein, really, sort of like a fluffy toenail for your face”
- Texts From Superheroes, Luke Cage Edition: the fourth one is my favorite. No spoilers in here — these all predate the show and are based upon the abstract qualities of the character.
- Fire The Bottom 10% (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.
Archives at http://glenandpaula.com/wordpress/category/links.