On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful than an Email (Vanessa Bohns, Harvard Business Review): “you need to ask six people in person to equal the power of a 200-recipient email blast. Still, most people tend to think the email ask will be more effective.”
- What Would Jesus Disrupt? (Mya Frazier, Bloomberg): “As the product takes shape and Foust prepares to move from the concept phase to fundraising, a more explicitly spiritual question begins to nag at him: ‘How do you raise money like Jesus?’ Foust has attended Crossroads for five years, but his evangelical faith began when he was a child growing up in a devout household on a tree farm in Paris, a town in northeast Ohio. He’s heard from other entrepreneurs how brutal fundraising can be. You’re going to have to sell your soul, they warn. You’re going to have to lie.”
- Five Stages of Spiritual Awakening (Dave Ferguson, Christianity Today): Interesting article, although I dislike the labels he chose. I would term them (1) yearning for meaning, (2) experiencing regret, (3) acknowledging need, (4) perceiving Christ’s love, and (5) receiving eternal life. It’s worth asking where your friends are on this journey and engage them on that topic.
- Why Prison?: An Economic Critique (Peter Salib, Berkeley Journal of Criminal Law): “If our jewel thief must pay $100,000 to be optimally deterred but has only $50,000 in cash, the chosen monetary sanction must merely be capable of making him worse off by the equivalent of another $50,000. As such, this paper does not endorse any particular nonmonetary sanction. History presents a startling array of options, including: flogging, pillory, running the gauntlope, tarring and feathering, branding, and many more. Modern judges have concocted similarly creative sanctions, including: forcing criminals to publicly carry embarrassing signs, mandating that they sleep in doghouses, or requiring them to undergo unwanted haircuts. If one objects to all of these, as-yet unimagined punishments could be substituted.” This is very long. Skim the table of contents and jump to any parts you find interesting.
- Social ecology of similarity (Bahns, Pickett & Crandall, Group Processes & Intergroup Relations): “Dyads were significantly more similar on attitudes, beliefs, and health behaviors in the large campus than in the small colleges sample. Our findings reveal an irony—greater human diversity within an environment leads to less personal diversity within dyads.” In other words, smaller universities lead to more diverse friendships.
Things Glen Found Amusing
- Friday’s Day Off Has Nothing To Do With Jesus, Public School System Clarifies (Babylon Bee)
- Don’t mess with crocodiles. (image)
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.