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Legendary American Novelist on the Fantasy of Western Popular Culture

Insightful words from Philip Roth: The power in any society is with those who get to impose the fantasy. It is no longer, as it was for centuries throughout Europe, the church that imposes its fantasy on the populace, nor is it the totalitarian superstate that imposes...

Roe at 41

Excellent article. Recent abortion cases have uncovered a weakness in the arguments of the Roe court: if the harms of unwanted pregnancy are largely those of future economic and personal hardship, not pregnancy itself, then the fathers of unborn children have nearly...

Dan Quayle Was Right

Potato may be spelled with an "e" or without one, but single parenting is not ideal for kids. Dan Quayle was right on the more important issue. So though I'm a little late (almost a year) noticing this article ("20 years later, it turns out Dan Quayle was right about...

Review: Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life

Wordsmithy: Hot Tips for the Writing Life by Douglas Wilson My rating: 4 of 5 stars I try to be scrupulous in my use of the five stars allotted to me by the gentle people of Goodreads. Five stars means "it was amazing." And I can't honestly say that about this book....

Surprised by the Bible

My students are ... disproportionately unchurched (and unsynagogued and unmosqued). An astonishing number of them—15 out of 38 in the last class I asked—come to college having never set foot inside a house of worship. Despite the fact that they are extraordinarily...

How to Write Multiple-Choice Questions

Not the most exciting post for my readership, perhaps, but you two could improve any teaching you do if you learned about it: multiple choice questions. My supervisor, Brad Batdorf, Ed.D., recently gave a talk on the subject and gave me permission to share with you...

Verse Divisions in the Bible

All the elements of page and book design can be thought of as punctuation, even if some of them are not intended to have any effect on the reading. Verse division, for instance, is a reference system, yet it exerts a strong influence on how the text is read. —David...

Review: Outliers: The Story of Success

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thoroughly enjoyed this easy read. Gladwell does have quite the knack for finding interesting stories and weaving them into a narrative supporting his thesis. I particularly enjoyed the...

Review: The Psalms as Christian Worship: An Historical Commentary

The Psalms as Christian Worship: An Historical Commentary by Bruce K. Waltke My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is a unique commentary, and not just among volumes on the Psalms. It's refreshing to read an erudite volume with careful grammatical-historical exegesis and a...

Review: Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft

Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft by Thor Heyerdahl My rating: 3 of 5 stars If not a book for guys, at least a book clearly written by one. There wasn't a single word about the relationship of the six guys on the raft that I noted—it's all adventure. My rating: 5...

Review: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas My rating: 3 of 5 stars I'm hovering between three and four stars here, because I did enjoy the book. Quite a stirring narrative. But, to put it too bluntly, I don't have a fundamental trust in the theological...