Here’s How Much Sleep You Need

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Source, by Elahe Izadi Sleep is glorious and many of us feel like we aren’t getting enough of it. Well, now you have a chart to consult! Just turn to the National Sleep Foundation’s newly released set of recommendations for various points of life, sleep-duration numbers that were developed after an extensive review of past scientific literature and input from a variety medical professionals. The recommendations for age categories from newborns to older adults were published this week in the foundation’s journal Sleep Health. Here are their... Read more

Set us free, O God…

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Set us free, O God, From the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Read more

South Carolina Anglicans

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Source: A conservative breakaway Anglican diocese in the US has won a court battle to keep more than $500 million worth of church property. The Episcopal Church (TEC) has no claim on the property of the Diocese of South Carolina or its churches, according to Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein. She wrote in her decision this week that the conservative diocese and its parishes are “the owners of their real, personal and intellectual property” and that the national church has... Read more

Saturday Book Interview, with Karen Swallow Prior

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Karen Swallow Prior is Professor of English at Liberty University. She writes regularly for publications like Christianity Today and The Atlantic. The following interview revolves around Karen’s most recent book, Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More-Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist. David George Moore conducted the interview. Dave blogs at www.twocities.org. Moore: You did your doctoral dissertation (Hannah More and the Evangelical Influence on the Rise of the English Novel) on Hannah More. What first led you to spend so much... Read more

Weekly Meanderings, 7 February 2015

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

It is cold in many parts of the world today, but none as cold as the coldest town on earth, Oymyakon, and Amos Chapple’s photo piece tells the story. (Chapple’s a Kiwi, by the way.) Meet Malcolm Butler. Meet James Robertson, 21 mile per day commuter by foot: But as he steps out into the cold, Robertson, 56, is steeled for an Olympic-sized commute. Getting to and from his factory job 23 miles away in Rochester Hills, he’ll take a... Read more

My Kind of Greek (Tie-less) PM!

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Adam Taylor When Greek voters elected the leftist party Syriza last month, many people expected an anti-establishment, even radical, change in policy from the new coalition government. Alexis Tsipras, Syriza’s young and charismatic leader, had vowed to transform not just Greece but the entire of Europe. Things were going to be different, very different. What Greek voters might not have expected was the first big reaction to Tsipras’s maverick streak would be all about his sartorial choices. As soon as the 40-year-old was sworn in as prime minister, people began asking... Read more

California and Water

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Of note from AP: SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — December’s rains enabled Californians to finally meet Gov. Jerry Brown’s call for a 20 percent reduction in monthly water consumption, but more restrictions loom as the state adapts to long-term drought conditions. California is by no means out of trouble, despite a survey released Tuesday that showed an unusually rainy month helped residents cut water use by 22 percent statewide from December 2013 levels. The Sierra Nevada snowpack that supplies a third of... Read more

The Primacy of Pastor

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

John lets loose here a bit, and I support him. Too many who don’t know what pastoring is are trying to refashion what pastoring is supposed to be. He (and I) could give names but won’t. The Primacy of Pastor (by John Frye) You would think that with all the second-guessing about and dismissal of who a pastor is and what a pastor does that the five-fold gifting mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 is also mentioned from cover to cover in... Read more

Change of Heart: Oden’s Memoir

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

This was first published by Carl Trueman at Mortification of Spin. And this is their introduction to the review: As readers will know, this week MoS is focusing on Thomas Oden’s autobiography, A Change of Heart. As I have reviewed it for the January edition of First Things, I asked Scot McKnight, as a friend and representative of another stream of evangelical life, to offer his thoughts on the volume, an invitation he kindly accepted. To coincide with today’s podcast on the... Read more

Yep, That’s Proof!

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 9:54 pm By Scot McKnight

Caitlin Dewey: Welp, so, this is what we’ve come to: We now need to use apps … to control our app use. Pocket Points, a recent-ish invention by students at California’s Chico State, shot up Apple’s trending chart on Tuesday as millions of college students anointed it the hot new thing. The app’s premise is pretty simple: Just show up to class, lock your phone, and earn points redeemable at local businesses. Because if a lifetime of crushing student loan... Read more