Emma Brown: Julie Lythcott-Haims noticed a disturbing trend during her decade as a dean of freshmen at Stanford University. Incoming students were brilliant and accomplished and virtually flawless, on paper. But with each year, more of them seemed incapable of taking care of themselves. At the same time, parents were becoming more and more involved in their children’s lives. They talked to their children multiple times a day and swooped in to personally intervene anytime something difficult happened. [How helicopter parents are ruining college... Read more

The next chapter of Kyle Greenwood’s new book Scripture and Cosmology: Reading the Bible Between the Ancient World and Modern Science looks at the range of creation or origins narratives in the Old Testament. Genesis 1 is the obvious place to start, but it is far from the only passage that deals with God’s role as creator.  In fact he identifies thirteen different Old Testament passages that should help inform our interpretation of the creation narrative taught in Scripture. It... Read more

CNN, by Emanuella Grinberg: Souveny set out last year to simplify his life, starting with this wardrobe, and he’s not the only one paring down. With the ubiquity of fast fashion and cheap home decor, many are finding it easy to hoard too many items. Thus the popularity of decluttering gurus like Marie Kondo and stunts such as Souveny’s. Previously, he thought he “needed” specific clothes for different activities: nice clothes for going out, work clothes, beach clothes, hiking clothes... Read more

The best of Christian views of humans is that we are never less than humanists, and more, but never less. So says Brian Harris in his The Big Picture: Building Blocks of a Christian World View. In an opening story about a man who just knew he was unworthy of the communion table because of his emotional and psychological cruelty to a former wife, who was deeply diminished by the man’s cruelty, Brian moves to this conclusion: we are a tragic mixture... Read more

Almighty and everlasting God,  in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more

By David G. Moore. My college friends and I used Churchianity in the most derisive way possible.  We loved saying how going to church didn’t make you a Christian anymore than walking into a car garage made you a car. Growing up, Scot McKnight did not mock church like I did, but he now has some hard-hitting, dare I say radical things, to offer in his book, A Fellowship of Differents . In November of last year, I interviewed Scot... Read more

Cubs win! JJ Bailey, a pro-Cards St Louis reporter, has a wonderful summary that reveals quality writing about two quality baseball programs: ST. LOUIS — And that’s how it ends: not with a whimper, but with a series of increasingly thunderous bangs. The 2015 season closed for the Cardinals in Chicago, after a young and wildly talented Cubs team launched ball after ball over the Wrigley Field walls. Chicago finished the series with 10 home runs, bombarding Cardinal pitching and... Read more

N.T. Wright’s newest book is called Paul and His Recent Interpreters and it amounts to the “introduction” to his 2-volume Paul and the Faithfulness of God. It is a book that examines how the interpretation of Paul has become what it is today. I was privileged to offer an endorsement of this book and this is what I wrote: In the past two hundred years only one other survey of biblical scholarship ranks with this book: the blockbuster The Quest of the Historical Jesus... Read more