{"id":7759,"date":"2025-08-08T18:45:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T01:45:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7759"},"modified":"2025-08-08T18:49:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T01:49:24","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-516","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/08\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-516","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 516: God in history &amp; confused physicists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>\n\n    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&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/05\/opinion\/joan-arc-miracles-god.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Did God Favor France?<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201c[Joan of Arc\u2019s] story is one of the most extensively documented cases of a miraculous-seeming intervention into secular history, calculated to baffle, fascinate and even charm like almost nothing else in Western history. Everything in the story sounds like a pious legend confabulated centuries after the fact. A peasant girl with zero political or military experience shows up at a royal court, announces a divine mission and makes a series of prophecies about what God wants for France that she consistently fulfills \u2014 a fulfillment that requires not merely some fortunate happenstance, but her taking command of a medieval army and winning an immediate series of victories over an intimidating adversary with Alexandrine or Napoleonic skill.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Worth a ponder.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-025-02342-y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Physicists disagree wildly on what quantum mechanics says about reality, <em>Nature<\/em> survey shows<\/a> (Elizabeth Gibney, Nature): \u201c<em>Nature<\/em> asked researchers what they thought was the best interpretation of quantum phenomena and interactions \u2014 that is, their favourite of the various attempts scientists have made to relate the mathematics of the theory to the real world. The largest chunk of responses, 36%, favoured the Copenhagen interpretation \u2014 a practical and often-taught approach. But the survey also showed that several, more radical, viewpoints have a healthy following. Asked about their confidence in their answer, only 24% of respondents thought their favoured interpretation was correct; others considered it merely adequate or a useful tool in some circumstances. What\u2019s more, some scientists who seemed to be in the same camp didn\u2019t give the same answers to follow-up questions, suggesting inconsistent or disparate understandings of the interpretation they&nbsp;chose.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/chi-alpha-texas-abuse-allegations-christian-missionary-sex-offender-rcna220069\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students<\/a> (Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News): \u201cThe pastors who shepherded hundreds of high school and college students to Savala\u2019s home were part of Chi Alpha, a Christian ministry that evangelizes on university campuses. Students seek out Chi Alpha to connect with God and each other, through small Bible studies and rollicking worship services \u2014 and, for more than 30 years, through Savala. Generations of Chi Alpha leaders hailed him as a spiritual savant who could answer life\u2019s deepest mysteries.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Heartbreaking. I\u2019ve posted about this scandal in Texas before (in other words, this is the same scandal from a few years ago with additional reporting). Now that it is being covered on NBC the higher-quality journalism is uncovering even more tragic details.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2025\/08\/put-down-the-shofar-gentile-christians-jewish-law-galatians-circumcision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Put Down the Shofar<\/a> (Brad East, Christianity Today): \u201cYou\u2019re likely familiar with shofars blown in public, Seder meals for Passover, and circumcision for baby boys. But as common and well-intended as these may be, I want to explain why I told my student that, yes, his house church was wrong\u2014or at least, misguided.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A theologically rich article.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefp.com\/p\/coleman-hughes-the-simple-truth-about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Simple Truth About the War in Gaza<\/a> (Coleman Hughes, The Free Press): \u201cAmid these developments, it may seem cartoonish, even obscene, to say that in the war between Israel and Hamas, Israel is the good guy. But it\u2019s the truth. And it\u2019s a truth that\u2019s incredibly easy to forget amid the day-to-day coverage of this terrible war.\u2026 Israel\u2019s goal is to live in peace with its neighbors. Throughout its 77-year history, it has agreed to half a dozen peace deals with the Palestinians. It voluntarily left Gaza in 2005. If it had any interest in wiping Gaza off the map, it could have done so any time in the last several decades.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2025\/08\/06\/how-the-elite-changed-its-mind-on-christianity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How the Elite Changed Its Mind on Christianity<\/a> (Emma Camp, Reason): \u201cAs the decline in religious attendance has slowed, the past few years have also seen a clear rise in the <em>status <\/em>of religion. It\u2019s becoming more and more socially acceptable to be religious in elite intellectual spaces\u2014something that could have a real impact on how religion is perceived by everyone else.\u2026 Religion became cool again among the educated elite once it gained an association with good aesthetics, high art, and sacred music\u2014not Bush-era Republican soft theocracy.&nbsp; Today, one can belong to the ideas-making class\u2014an aspiring public intellectual or artist\u2014and still be religious, so long as one steers clear of evangelical kitsch. Whether or not a real religious revival is underway in American public life, one thing is clear: The cool kids aren\u2019t the smug, strident atheists anymore\u2014they\u2019re the Christians.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fascinating, although it reminds me I need to write that essay I\u2019ve been mulling over defending low-church Protestantism as the best and most authentic expression of Christianity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/03\/briefing\/christian-influencers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Influencer Missionaries<\/a> (Lauren Jackson, New York Times): \u201cChurches are turning to the internet to reach new audiences. Evangelical pastors are bringing their famously high-production sermons into vertical video. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is presenting a diverse, younger image to its 1.4 million Instagram followers.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A short article, not super-informative. Mostly interesting because of the trend reaching the point that the Times is taking note of it. Also because of some of the small vignettes: \u201cPerhaps that explains the celebrity of Father Rafael Capo, 57, a bodybuilding priest in Miami who fuses fitness with faith for his 112,000 Instagram followers. He often posts photos of himself lifting weights and consecrating communion.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) 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\u2019ll 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.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&nbsp;way. Things Glen Found Interesting Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email? In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/08\/08\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-516\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 516: God in history &amp; confused physicists\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[313,298,153,243,233,160,148,241,281,147],"class_list":["post-7759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-abuse","tag-assemblies-of-god","tag-catholicism","tag-chi-alpha","tag-france","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-israel","tag-judaism","tag-physics","tag-sexual-assault"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-219","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7759"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7763,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7759\/revisions\/7763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}