THE ANTLIZT: April 4, 2018

A curated selection of articles of interest from the past week related to Christianity and culture.

News et cetera

50 years ago today, the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Here’s the NYT’s original obituary of MLK. [NYT]

We forgot what MLK believed. He was a man of faith but his faith demanded action. [NYT]

1 officer fired, 1 suspended in death of Alton Sterling as police release new videos. Neither officer is charged. If you haven’t watched the bodycam video, you ought to. Warning: its graphic. [LA Times]

Inside a Private Prison: Blood, Suicide and Poorly Paid Guards. “So many shackled men have recounted instances of extraordinary violence and neglect in the prison that the judge has complained of exhaustion.” [NYT]

Can you prove you’re not a racist? “In our age of denunciation, calling others racists offers tempting cover from having the same rhetorical cudgel land on the detractor, just as writhing in pain absolves accusers in The Crucible of being witches. That immunity is precious, since a racist has become the very worst thing that anyone can be.” [Spectator]

“I could scarcely have less interest in Peterson’s ruminations on Jungian symbology, evolutionary biology, or psychometrics (whatever that is), but it is easy to see why people respond to his soulful brand of self-help. Jordan Peterson is a success because so many other men are failing.” [First Things]

How do you make or maintain friends? Put in the time. A new study shows how long – in hours – friendships take to develop. [Psychology Today]

Jesus Died Only to Rise Again. Where Did the Concept of the Resurrection Come From? “No matter where one stands in terms of faith, Jesus — be he God or man or, in the view of the church, both — was perhaps the most important figure who ever drew breath, and he will fascinate, enthrall and confound us to the end of time — and, if believers have it right, even beyond. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” That much seems inarguable.” [NYT]

How the Christian movie series God’s Not Dead fails to be Christian. [Vox]

Nicholas Kristoff in support of female clergy: God and Her (Female) Clergy. [NYT]

Rod Dreher responds: The Feminization (And Decline) Of Religion. [The American Conservative]

Where does the mind end and the world begin? The mind-expanding ideas of Andy Clark: the tools we use to help us think – from language to smartphones – may be part of thought itself. [New Yorker]

“Choice wasn’t just whether a woman could seek an abortion but also how and when she wanted to have it, who she wanted around her, and where she wanted to be.” A secret network of at-home abortionists want to give women options for ending pregnancy. [The California Sunday Magazine]

The unstoppable rise of veganism: how a fringe movement went mainstream. [Guardian]

When the heavens stopped being perfect. “I want to focus now not on the displacement of earth as the center of the cosmos but on the newly conceived materiality of the heavens. Because it was that materiality, that humbling of the so-called heavenly bodies, that struck at the absolute nature of the stars.” [Nautilus]

Music

Mahalia Jackson sings “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” at MLK’s funeral. It’s short and the quality isn’t the best but wow is it powerful.

Three excellent bluegrass artists, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan, perform together as I’m With Her. They have a new album out called “See You Around.”