Columnist Ruth Dudley Edwards joined a panel discussion on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and was reminded what she hates about the fruitcakes who populate many humanities departments. “Now, it’s not that I don’t know that the wilder fringes of academia are populated by the ignorant, mad or just silly: indeed several of my crime novels are savage about the lunacies of humanities departments. But every time I revisit that world it’s the sheer stupidity and tunnel vision that gets me cross.” (via Books, Inq.)
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Carrying Seedlings in a Bucket
Andrew Peterson talks about discovering a poem by Wendell Berry. “Just a few days ago my kind neighbor Tommy gave me permission to harvest a few maple seedlings from his property and I spent an afternoon replanting them around the Warren with these same hopes for the blessing they might be to my children’s children. Once again, the sage words of the Mad Farmer gave me a clear picture of what it means for us to be keepers of his creation, standing amidst a breadth of old beauty that we didn’t ask for and don’t deserve.”
Skipping Around the Bible
Kathy Keller, wife of New York pastor and author Tim Keller, reviews Rachel Held Evans’ new book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband “Master”
See many positive reviews on Amazon.
Scary Restaurants
Now, for something completely different, a feature on six crazy, scary restaurants around the world, like Dinner in the Sky, which hoists its guests 160 feet in the air over Niagara Falls and other places after you sign a $10 million insurance waiver. Closer to the ground, there’s a New York City joint called Dans Le Noir, where diners eat at a long, communal table in total darkness. And in Spain, there’s a place that simulates a 7.8 earthquake every night.
For more frights this weekend, be sure to catch the documentary on Capitol Hill antics called Paranormal Activity. Truly frightening.
Devotional Writing
I may have told you once before that I have been writing devotional emails for a small group of CBMC leaders for a few years now. (CBMC stands for Christian Business Men’s Connection.) This year, we opened a new, private discussion and resource community for CBMC members, and I’m posting my past and current devotional writing on a public blog there. I doubt I’m breaking any ground–I mean, I’m not Jared Wilson. But I hope to point readers to Christ and away from our natural tendency to moralism.
A few of my recent post are
The Faithful’s Political Views
Gene Veith talks about Thomas Kidd’s analysis of a new class of American evangelicals who don’t hold the water for the GOP because of their evangelical worldview. Kidd writes:
These paleo evangelicals keep the Republican party at arm’s length for three main reasons:
- A deep suspicion of American civil religion
- [Diminished] hope in any political party doing that much good in this world
- Problems with certain Republican positions
But on some of the most compelling issues, the Republican Party still seems like the best option for many paleos.
I think Kidd has hit the dead head on the money nail. I might even call myself a paleo evangelical, but I’ve never keep the GOP at arm’s length, because I believe they are the current best option for reforming our government.
The Fall of Arthur, a New Epic Poem
“Arthur eastward in arms purposed
his war to wage on the wild marches,
over seas sailing to Saxon lands,
from the Roman realm ruin defending.”
Thus begins a new epic poem by the beloved author of The Lord of the Rings. What’s that, you ask? How can write a new poem when he’s been dead since 1973? Bah! What is death among friends?
Can Journalists Be Objective (In the Way They Define It)?
Glenn Greenwald writes:
In fact, one could reasonably make the case that those whose thinking is shaped by unexamined, unacknowledged assumptions are more biased than those who have consciously examined and knowingly embraced their assumptions, because the refusal or inability to recognize one’s own assumptions creates the self-delusion of unbiased objectivity, placing those assumptions beyond the realm of what can be challenged and thus leading one to lay claim to an unearned authority steeped in nonexistent neutrality.
Greenwald discusses objectivity in light of the vice-presidential debate.
Are You the Right Author for the Book?
Dave Long tells a little story for an important question: are you the right author for your book?
New Cartoonist Award
Slate Book Review and The Center for Cartoon Studies has announced a new award for excellence in cartooning. Get the goods here.