All posts by Phil

Religion

American Views on God

2 Comments

Nine out of ten Americans claim to believe in God, but who that person is varies a good bit. This report in USA Today spells it out. What we believe about God determines how we stand on social and political issues.

Asked about the Baylor findings, Philip Yancey, author of What Good Is God?, says he moved from the Authoritative God of his youth — “a scowling, super-policeman in the sky, waiting to smash someone having a good time” — to a “God like a doctor who has my best interest at heart, even if sometimes I don’t like his diagnosis or prescriptions.”

Authors, Religion

The Grace of Living

4 Comments

Andrew Peterson is writing about imagination and George MacDonald at The Rabbit Room.

Buechner said, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and the pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

It isn’t saving grace, as some would have it, but it is divine grace for all who breathe. God is so good to us, which may be why god and good are so close in English.

Peterson has two more parts to his posts on imagination.

  1. The Inner Vision
  2. The Inner Spirit
Religion

Tweeting the Gospel

2 Comments

Tullian Tchividjian is on Twitter and has been writing sentences about the gospel for a while now. Here’s a list of those statements:

  1. The gospel doesn’t simply ignite the Christian life; it’s the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day.
  2. When you understand that your significance and identity is anchored in Christ, you don’t have to win—you’re free to lose.
  3. Christian growth doesn’t happen by working hard to get something you don’t have. It happens by working hard to live in light of what you do have

There are many more. Read on

Authors, Fiction

Shop Talk: Crime, Class, and Money

Leave a comment

Thomas Mullen, author of The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers, interviews Jess Walter, author of Citizen Vince and The Zero,. Walter says, “Real, organic-seeming characters can illuminate any event—whether it’s timely, the way I’ve worked recently, or steeped in history, like your novels. I like what Emerson said: ‘Fiction reveals the truth that reality obscures.'”

Then Mullen asks about the blend of literary and crime fiction, and then he brings up class descriptions . . . read more.

Music

Mumford & Sons – The Cave

Leave a comment

And now for something completely different. This song from Mumford & Sons is obviously an allusion to Plato’s cave metaphor, otherwise why would it called “The Cave.” I mean, how could they be singing about anything else? (Sorry, I’m being silly, or I’m losing my mind.)

“But I will hold on hope

And I won’t let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I’ll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I’ll know my name as it’s called again.”

Authors

When in Doubt, Talk About Writing

Leave a comment

Bob Thompson says there are three common reports written from interviews with writers, but if you talk to them about writing, you can usually avoid producing what everyone else does. [via Books, Inq.]

Fiction

Interview with Director Randall Wallace

Leave a comment

Randall Wallace, director of Secretariat and writer of Braveheart among other good movies, answers a few questions for World. “If anything feels like it’s a Sunday school lesson, that would drive me away from a theater, let alone someone who isn’t disposed to the same viewpoint. When I go to the movies, I’m not looking to be exposed to somebody else’s dogma. And when I make a movie I’m not looking to explain my intellectual arguments of faith to somebody else.”

Authors, Fiction

5Q: Jonathan Rogers

Leave a comment

Mr. Smith has Five Questions For Jonathan Rogers, Author of The Charlatan’s Boy.

SD–Fact: The Wilderking Books are gold for children (and adults) on many fronts. Truth? Check. Goodness, Beauty? Check, check. Were you inspired to write the trilogy by any concern over a lack of worthwhile fiction for kids, or was your motivation simply to make billions of dollars?

JR–I wouldn’t say any ‘concern’ about existing children’s fiction motivated me. I was quite ignorant of what was out there when I started writing the Wilderking books. I’m only a little less ignorant now. I will say I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much worthwhile fiction is out there–though there is plenty that isn’t worthwhile. Here’s the thing, S.D.: I want people to like what I like. I think that’s a good enough reason to write stories. . . .

Religion

Designed for God's Glory

Leave a comment

Bryan Chapell writes about taking grace for granted: “As a racehorse is made for running and a saxophone is made for jazz, we find our greatest glory when we do what we are designed to do and live as God in his grace has designed us. In godliness we find our truest and best humanity. Any other path leads only to ruin.”

We cannot prove our understanding or love of God’s gracious handling of us by indulging our sin. We must pursue holiness–imperfectly we understand, but still zealously. We were made for this.