On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- The new year is upon us. Consider reading through the entire Bible in 2017 (doing so will take around 10 minutes a day). Here’s a thorough and helpful article from last year about reading the whole Bible. If you want an app to make it easier, take a look at readscripture.org
- Varieties of Religious Experience (Ross Douthat, NY Times): “One of my hobbies is collecting what you might call nonconversion stories — stories about secular moderns who have supernatural-seeming experiences without being propelled into any specific religious faith.”
- Mark Zuckerberg says he’s no longer an atheist, believes ‘religion is very important’ (Julie Zauzmer, Washington Post): Somewhat related to the above. Also, if you happen to bump into him or his wife then please let them know they are welcome at Chi Alpha. 🙂
- The Evangelical Scion Who Stopped Believing (Mark Oppenheimer, NY Times): “Atheists and agnostics have long tried to rebottle religion: to get the community and the good works without the supernatural stuff. It has worked about as well as nonalcoholic beer. As with O’Doul’s, converts are few, and rarely do they end up having a very good time.” Interesting article, although Oppenheimer misreads some background details (in particular, I think he was unfair to Stetzer’s comment).
- In Praise of Ignorance (Simon Cullen, Quillette): “Those with the audacity to admit that they have nothing intelligent to say about a difficult topic should be praised for refusing to further erode our common epistemic standards, not scorned for failing to toe some party line.”
- Campus Identity Politics Is Dooming Liberal Causes, a Professor Charges (Evan R. Goldstein, Chronicle of Higher Education): an interview with Columbia’s Mark Lilla — “identity politics today isn’t about group belonging; it’s about personal identity. From the ’70s into the ’90s, there was a shift in focus from group identity to the self as the intersection of different kinds of identities…. It’s extraordinary how much time and thinking [students] devote to exactly what they are as the subtotal of other identities, rather than seeing their time at the university as an opportunity to leave those things behind, or overcome them, or become something that’s actually themselves and autonomous in some way.” This is sort of a sequel to an article I shared back in volume 77.
- Houses of Worship Poised to Serve as Trump-Era Immigrant Sanctuaries (Laurie Goodstein, NY TImes): “Churches, schools and hospitals are considered ‘sensitive locations,’ according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration officers are supposed to avoid those locations, unless they have advance approval from a supervisor or face ‘exigent circumstances’ that require immediate action, said Jennifer Elzea, an agency spokeswoman.”
- Here’s Who Will Pray at Trump’s Inauguration (Kate Shellnut, Christianity Today): it’s not obvious from the article, but a surprising number of them are Pentecostal of one sort or another: Wayne Jackson, Paula White, Sammy Rodriguez.
Things Glen Found Amusing
- Is VidAngel Legal? (Youtube): a clever defense of an ingenious service. It’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but it tickled me. Plus I agree with their stance.
- Supreme Court OKs Death Penalty For Commenting On Articles Without Reading Them (Babylon Bee)
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.