Narnia Story 3
Before the first Narnia film came out, I was very skeptical. I simply did not believe that non-Christians would get it right. Narnia is suffused with a Spirit they do not know. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe managed to exceed my low expectations, but it still Hollywoodified the story—from opening with explosions to turning Peter into an unkingly jerk. Worst of all, it put Aslan in a cat-carrier in the back seat. He wasn't the commanding presence he is supposed to be as the son of the...
Count the Biblical Allusions in This Sentence
From a Chronicle of Higher Education article on the future of libraries now that Google Books is here: As someone with experience in print and electronic publishing, Darnton is seeking "common ground" between the Luddite jeremiad and come-to-Jesus techno-millennialism. You could conclude from this fun little sentence that to read intelligently today you still have to know the Bible—or perhaps simply to know the major things educated people know about it. But is even that going too far? My read...
The JEC at YDS
I'm at the Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School for a week taking a course on Edwards' Religious Affections. It's been fun and informative, especially our time viewing Edwards' manuscripts and our class discussions—which I had the honor of starting the other day by asking a question about the following snippet from a 1729 sermon Edwards preached on 1 Peter 1:8, the passage which ultimately formed the launching pad for his 1746 book, Religious Affections: There is no love like the...
Soccerball
Opinionator at NYT: Soccer is "a game that teaches you that life is unfair. Because goals are so scarce, it is possible for a team to be outplayed for 89 minutes and yet still score one fluke goal and win the game. Superior performance often does not translate into victory." Exactly. That's why I like football and ultimate frisbee. I realize what this means, that I may never make it anywhere but the US and North Korea—the only other nation in the world known to dislike soccer (at least that's...
Beautiful Father’s Day Article for My First Father’s Day
Read it; it’s about a father who went to war—World War II—and was deeply affected by it. I just read Stalingrad on my Kindle, a fast-moving and terrifying account of one of the most famous portions of WWII. Now I’m on to 1776, also on the Kindle. What a gift and responsibility historians have, making the past come alive.