I’m reviewing James K.A. Smith’s new book, Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works, for the next issue of Fare Forward. Unfortunately, in a relatively brief review there is not space to consider every interesting turn in a text which, though a short book, is very thick conceptually. This reflection centers around some thoughts I wasn’t able to fit into my print review. In his Cultural Liturgies series, Smith is interested in the ways that our social, embodied practices form us... Read more
A fantastic post on the NPR blog a little while back about the mystery that still surrounds the orgin of life. It is a good example of the kind of open ended questioning, the frank acknowledgment of ignorance before many questions, that we should see more of in scientific conversations: How did life first happen? How did it begin? We don’t know. As Peter Godfrey Smith puts it, in his elegant review of Thomas Nagel’s recent book: “We still know very little about how life... Read more
From A Secular Age: One future, which flows out of mainline secularization theory, sees religion shrinking further and further. Of course, no one expects it to disappear totally, giving way to science, as the old generation of rationalist atheists did (see the quotes from Renan and Comte in Chap. 15). Most atheists accept today that there always be a certain degree of “irrationality,” or at least inattention to science, and the wildest ideas will always have defenders. But we... Read more
Why is Bonhoeffer experiencing such popularity among evangelical Christians at the moment? What is the appeal of his life and message that we find so attractive – and is that attraction legitimate? I was first introduced to Bonhoeffer’s life in a Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production titled “Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom.” More recently, Eric Metaxas wrote a biography of titled Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. This biography has been critiqued by Bonhoeffer historians because of the way Metaxas... Read more
Two days ago, on Ash Wednesday the faithful all over the world conducted their business with an ashen cross on their foreheads to remind them that from dust we were made, and to dust we shall return. This is a jarring and almost grotesque practice to a culture where youth and vitality are purchased at a high price, and embargoes against discussing death are one of the only social taboos remaining. Yet only a few days prior, on February 11,... Read more
A group of us were gathered around dinner, discussing what we could give up for Lent together. Someone suggested, “Vegetarian dinners?” There was a silent pause. As fellows at the Trinity Forum Academy, we rotate cooking dinners for everyone between the twelve of us, so any dinner decision had to be a communal one. Halfway through the discussion, someone asked, “What would be the point of giving up meat?” “Self-control” was the main consensus. A reminder that all good... Read more
Richard Gunderman touts the benefits of honesty in his recent piece for The Atlantic, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Considering factors from physiology to personal awareness, Gunderman makes a case for value of truthfulness in a piece that reflects the difficulty of justifying virtues on their intrinsic merit in a society with a declining sense of moral objectivity. Gunderman’s piece begins by surveying the current state of honesty in America. He reports that people lie not only to avoid embarrassment, but... Read more
“Think for a moment about your typical workday. Do you wake up tired? Check your e-mail before you get out of bed? Skip breakfast or grab something on the run that’s not particularly nutritious? Rarely get away from your desk for lunch? Run from meeting to meeting with no time in between? Find it nearly impossible to keep up with the volume of e-mail you receive? Leave work later than you’d like, and still feel compelled to check e-mail in... Read more
House of Cards is a new American political drama released on Netflix instead of a traditional tv channel. Here are three thoughts on the series after having seen the first nine episodes. First, one can’t help thinking of Tolkien’s description of men “who above all else desire power” while watching the series. The show is part Shakespearean tragedy in the mold of Macbeth and part Nietzschean homage to the over-man, played with consummate skill by Kevin Spacey. The difference, of... Read more
A defense of the liberal arts will almost always also be a defense of theology, because the principals that undergird the liberal arts always have theological implications. Take the recent talk Mark Roche recently gave on why one should choose a liberal arts education. I was struck by how his defense of liberal education could be extended to achieve an understanding the role of theology in dealing with existential questions in life more broadly. Roche argued, in a pretty typical... Read more
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