In the middle of the 20th century, an ongoing concern of science fiction writers (and others too, of course) was the question of how to raise a generation of people as tough and clever and successful as the Greatest Generation had been without the pesky formative influences of a Great Depression and a World War 2. Robert Heinlein’s young adult books explore this from various perspectives, and his excellent little book Citizen of the Galaxy is a solid example of this.... Read more
You’d think that when a theologian passes away, their scholarly output would cease. And yet here we are with another new book from J.I. Packer, Proclaiming Christ in a Pluralistic Age. To be fair, this book is a compilation of lectures from 1978, so in that sense it’s not exactly “new.” And yet, it’s also fresh and timely (as we would expect from Packer). Striking directly at what he sees as the theological temptations of his own day, what were “temptations”... Read more
How should Christians engage with modern American entertainment culture? Robust thinking about this topic has been a staple of the Christian world for the last half century, and an important classic contribution to the topic was Kenneth Myers’ All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes. Myers’ 1989 reflection provides a great starting point for Christians who want to think about the topic–though it may not be the best place to stop. While Myers’ argument is too complex to engage in full... Read more
The Academy of Country Music Awards show last night on Amazon was a pageant of contemporary stars, new music, aged icons, pop stars, football players, and classic Country. (FYI Prime was not required to watch the show live last night, but it might be now?) In my description of what was obviously an eclectic mix, don’t hear that this was a show dedicated to the pop-driven components of contemporary Country music that you might be used to if you listen... Read more
Just what is the mission of the church? This is at the same time a simple and complex question that Christians have been debating for two millennia–with an especially intense period of discussion taking place in the 19th Century American Presbyterian world. In this debate, with theologian Charles Hodge at its center, even the idea that the church’s mission is spiritual was an object of contention. Alan Strange’s new book Empowered Witness; Politics, Culture, and the Mission of the Church is a... Read more
It’s always interesting to go back to books you read in the past and judge whether or not they’re any good–which of course is really judging whether past you had good taste relative to present you. In high school, I pulled the book The Sword of Winter by Marta Randall off my grandparents’ bookshelf and read it through. I remember enjoying it quite a bit, but not enough to send me on a deep dive into the fantasy genre (though enough... Read more
In what probably won’t (but easily could) be a series on how Science Fiction so often accurately predicts the future, a previous post noted that Sci-Fi anticipated our current conversations about gender and sex. This review is about a book that anticipated modern discussions about language. I realize that most of these discussions were taking place among academics and largely involved conversations about postmodernism vs classical ideas, and mostly passed by the man on the street (and good riddance, for... Read more
Samuel James isn’t offering anything new (the best books don’t), but he brings together a wide variety of ideas and reflections into one devastating conclusion in his new book Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age. At the heart of this book are two claims: “First, the Bible lays out the wisdom we need to live faithfully and fruitfully before our Creator. Second, the internet is an epistemological and moral habitat that makes such wisdom seem like foolishness. By... Read more
Every so often I am reminded just how visionary science fiction authors can be. Granted, there is a ton of sci-fi out there, so just statistically it makes sense that many predictions will come true. That was reinforced when I came across Theodore Sturgeon’s 1960 book Venus Plus X, and again: this book was published in 1960. Before Second Wave Feminism took off. Before the homosexual movement took off in the mainstream in the 1990s and early 2000s. Before the gender discussion we’re... Read more
While it has been a second since I’ve read The Maltese Falcon or seen the movie, I suspect that in either version of the story Sam Spade didn’t spend all of his time studiously avoiding detective work in favor of swimming naked in his pool and failing to solve any part of the mystery he encounters along the way. Yet–spoiler alert from here on out–that is very much what happens in Monsieur Spade, the fan-fiction-esque reboot of the noir classic detective. Long... Read more
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