Phil has suggested that I write about the American political themes in my Erling Skjalgsson novels. This had never occurred to me, but it’s an excellent idea, because I have indeed had our American republic much in mind as I wrote.

There’s a scene in my novel The Year of the Warrior, where the missionary king Olaf Trygvesson is talking to some Norwegian farmers, trying to persuade them to convert to Christianity. One of the reasons he gives for converting is the glory and wealth of the Christian countries. He speaks of the great cathedrals and palaces in England and France, beside which the low wooden halls of the Norse were unimpressive.

This is emblematic, I think, of a political difference that runs through history, a problem that’s been solved in various ways. How do men live together in a society? Will there be freedom (which can become anarchy), or will one central authority control everything (which can become tyranny)?

In the days of the Romans, and later in the early Middle Ages, there was a division between the Latin cultures—those descended from the Roman empire—and the Germanic cultures, which were generally democratic in nature. I might symbolize them by the Roman palace or basilica, and the Norwegian hall. Continue reading By the dawn's Erling light, Part 1 →

WORLD Magazine reports that Mosab Hassan Yousef has been granted asylum in the United States. The son of a Hamas founder, he turned against terrorism, spied for Israel, and embraced Christianity. Youself had been threatened with deportation for his past terrorist associations. That would certainly have resulted in his murder.

In his book, Yousef describes growing up admiring Hamas and hating Israel. He said he bought machine guns and a handgun in 1996, but the guns didn’t work and he was arrested by Israeli forces before he killed anyone.

Yousef says he started working with Shin Bet after witnessing Hamas brutalities in prison that left him disillusioned. He gravitated toward Christianity after his release in 1997, joining a study group after a chance encounter with a British tourist at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.

Thank God. Thank God.

DISCOVER Magazine reports on scientists who are studying a unique form of sign language, developed by deaf schoolchildren in Nicaragua. The researchers are discovering new things about the power of language, and the very real effects it has on how we think about our world (or don’t).

This is a fascinating result, especially since the first group of adults were older and had been signing for a longer time. It’s clear evidence that our spatial reasoning skills depend, to an extent, on consistent spatial language. If we lack the right words, our mental abilities are limited in a way that extra life experience can’t fully compensate for. Even 30 years of navigating through the world won’t do the trick.

Tip: Mirabilis.

All Star-Spangled Banner lyrics below the fold. Continue reading "Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation." →

2 Corinthians 8-10 ESV–For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

I’ve been praying during the night for a few people who would identify with Paul’s suffering, but beyond that the applications are legion, aren’t they? Self-serving officials, the mess in the gulf (now being called a dead zone), crime in our cities, conflict in our families, illnesses or injustices or simple unemployment among our friends and acquaintances. No matter what the next step may be for one of these problems, it is to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He is all-sufficient, merciful, and righteous.