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
- Compound Interest in an Attention Economy (Austin Carty, Front Porch Republic): “The prevailing logic of twenty-first century American culture suggests that the pursuit of new experience is, in and of itself, a necessary form of capital without which one is ipso facto barred from the possibility of living a rich life. But my own experience, corroborated by many of the people I’ve talked with, suggests that the pursuit of new experience is, just as often as not, the cause of our despair not the cure; for to keep shifting attention from one thing to the next is almost always to drain one’s spiritual and mental and emotional bank account, not to deliver a meaningful return. Meanwhile, contra popular opinion, there is something life-giving about rooting oneself in a single community—about investing ourselves in a mutual fund, so to speak—and watching the investment slowly grow at compound interest.”
- ‘A computer, a radio, a drone and a shotgun’: how missionaries are reaching out to Brazil’s isolated peoples (John Reid and Daniel Biasetto, The Guardian): “Missionary activity now threatens 13 of the 29 isolated peoples that Brazil officially recognises as definitively confirmed, according to the federal prosecutor’s office.”
- This was actually a pretty encouraging article overall, despite the use of language like “threatens.”
- Trending thoughts about Gaza:
- The Price of Flour Shows the Hunger Crisis in Gaza (Amit Segal, The Free Press): “Discussing these findings, The Free Press’s Haviv Rettig Gur highlighted Spitzer’s key challenge in convincing Israelis that Gaza is indeed facing a hunger crisis: ‘It’s hard to convince Israelis of that because literally everything said to them for 22 months on this topic has been a fiction.’ ”
- Is Gaza Starving? Searching for the Truth in an Information War. (Matti Friedman, The Free Press): “Over the years, Israelis have been accused of fake massacres and rapes. The country’s actions are lied about almost daily by people describing themselves as journalists, analysts, and representatives of the United Nations, often using statistics that are themselves untrue. For people here in Israel, the constant barrage of libel—like the more literal barrages of rockets—is simply a fact of life. After years of this, average Israelis do what people do when confronted with lunatics on the New York subway: They tune it out.… a senior figure in the Israeli military told one of my colleagues at the end of last week that while there isn’t mass starvation as claimed by pro-Hamas propaganda, Gaza really is on the brink this time.”
- How Israel’s War Became Unjust (Ross Douthat, New York Times): “…Israel has made a strategic choice, trying to separate food distribution from a system that it argues Hamas was exploiting for its own purposes. But if your strategic choice leads to children dying of starvation when the food is available to feed them, then a civilized nation has to make a different choice — even if that makes things easier for its enemies to some degree.”
- Till Words Do Us Part (Leah Libresco Sargeant, The Dispatch): “Classically, the marriage vows are not about the particular couple standing at the altar—they’re about the institution the couple is choosing to enter. Classical vows (for better, for worse, etc) have lasted with only minor revisions for a thousand years. They are intended to suit every couple, uncustomized, and they enumerate the promises that must be kept for a marriage to be a marriage. But customized vows frequently mingle serious promises with ones that cannot or should not be kept.”
- The Natural Law Is Not Enough. The Natural Law Is All We Have. (Andrew T. Walker, Public Discourse): “…any attempt to construct a moral and political order must grapple with two competing truths: the imago Dei makes moral reasoning possible, but original sin ensures that moral reasoning will often be contested, suppressed, corrupted, or ignored. This is the paradox of our moment. The natural law is written on every heart (Romans 2:15), but hearts are wounded and reason clouded. We have access to moral truth, but not consensus. Hence, the natural law is not enough. But it is still the best we have.”
- Desiderata for a Protestant Theology of the Body (Substack): “But I think there are, in fact, distinctively Protestant ways to approach the question of sexuality and reproduction- and I suspect some of the dearth of conversation about these topics reflects a certain Protestant sensibility. It also reflects the boundaries of what might be possible with a Protestant view. So here are a few ‘desiderata’- a fancy way of saying ‘things we ought to consider’, in order to build a Protestant theology of the body.”
- The author is a theologian at Gordon-Conwell.
- How the Second Great Awakening Helped Make America (Thomas Kidd, The Dispatch): “Americans might assume that the height of their nation’s religious commitment was around its Founding. Some likewise figure that spiritually, it’s been going downhill ever since. But in many ways, America became increasingly religious through the first half of the 19th century.”
- Kidd is one of the greatest living evangelical historians.
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
- Ambition (Pearls Before Swine)
- The Limits of AI (SMBC)
- Impostor Syndrome (SMBC)
- The Literary Canon (SMBC)
- Man’s Life Going So Well He Has To Find Stuff On The Internet To Get Angry About (Babylon Bee)
- Lesson (SMBC): the Ms. Frizzle cameo sent me
- Split doubleheader: Domínguez traded from Orioles to Blue Jays in between games against each other (Noah Trister, Associated Press): “‘After the first game, I was in there with the guys, and they call me and they tell me, “Hey we got you traded. Go to the next dugout,”’ Domínguez said.”
- I can’t even imagine how surreal that must have felt for everyone in both dugouts. Wow.
- Man With Strong Urge To Eat Wicker Basket Settles For Triscuit Instead (Babylon Bee)
- Twitter (Pearls Before Swine)
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). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. 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 this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.