Review: Golly’s Folly: The Prince Who Wanted It All
Golly's Folly: The Prince Who Wanted It All by Eleazar Ruiz My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars Golly’s Folly is the work of two brothers and the wife of one of those brothers. It is an artful take on several biblical themes, coupled with richly colorful and imaginative illustrations. Golly is the son of King Zhor, and because he envies his father’s glory he asks for his father’s crown. This is the prodigal son demanding his inheritance, the fool who thinks a crown brings glory instead of symbolizing...
New Article in Modern Reformation
I have a new article out in the November-December issue of Modern Reformation. It's entitled "American Idol, American Culture, the Christian Church, and Your Bible Study." I explore the impact on the church of the Western cultural forces of "authenticity and disintermediation"—forces you can see in places from reality TV to YouTube.
Review: The Warden and the Wolf King
The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson My rating: 4 of 5 stars The ending brought tears to my eyes. The narrative kept us all (me and my 6- and 4-year-old) going for months. That's all good. I did think the series had trouble deciding whether it was a whimsical bedtime story constructed on the fly (the first two books or so) or a "serious" story with symbolism and character depth (the last two books or so). And at a few key times the attempted depth wasn't convincing, especially when...
Review: Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care
Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care by John McWhorter My rating: 4 of 5 stars I'm a big McWhorter fan. His lecturing style, which is just like his writing style, is so engagingly brilliant. This was such a wonderful and odd book; it revealed more of ΜcWhorter's personality than previous reads and listens, specifically his dedication to musical theater—and the fact that his pop culture knowledge is almost scarily extensive. And that fact also...