Beauty can invigorate our working hectic lives, if only we let it. I’ve spoken with writers, pastors, mothers, and fathers who tell me, “I just don’t have time to get out and spend time in nature or go for a walk or just sit and listen. I’m too busy.” And I get it. I fall into those seasons as well. But over the last five years, those seasons are few and far between. Why? Well, C.S. Lewis had something to... Read more
What do we do as human beings in times of crises, war, and uncertainty? The following seven reflections come from C.S. Lewis’s essay, “Learning in War-Time,” as well as some of my own reflections. Seven Reasons Why Beauty Matters in Wartime First, remember, from ancient times till now, humanity has always faced some kind of peril. Lewis’s lens panned out and across world history. He reminded his hearers that there is nothing natural about living; life is fraught with peril.... Read more
Critique gets bad press. We think of it in a negative light, because who likes to be told how bad something is, especially about their own work? But that’s not the whole story for critique. Good Critique is Essential for Learning As a professional writer, I live in the world of immediate critique. If I was thin-skinned, I’d have shrivelled long ago. But the weathering of critique helped my skin has grow thick. And it has all made me better.... Read more
The Pew Research Center released a new study: “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050.”Here are some highlights. There are 6.9 billion people in the world Religious ‘nones’ are in decline worldwide but will increase in the United States, from 16% to 26% by 2050 Christianity remains the largest religion in the world (2.2 billion), while at the same time declining significantly in the United States and other developed countries. Christianity growth shows rapid growth in sub-Sarahan Africa... Read more
Vitalogy. What is it? My GenX brothers and sisters, along with my own daughters, will recognize this word as the 1994 album released by Pearl Jam. In true Pearl Jam fashion, Vitalogy was released on vinyl before it was released as a CD. The cassette release followed the vinyl. I purchased all three mediums. Until 2014, Vitalogy held the record for first-week vinyl sales. Jack White broke their record with Lazerato. I suppose that’s fine. The Album that Changed Pearl Jam... Read more
This week I’m reflecting on one of the logical outcomes of utilitarianism as it relates to personhood and beauty. I want to review utilitarianism in brief. I’ll begin with a brief look at Aristotle and jump to the modern era so as to get a handle on how we tend to view it in our own age. Aristotle’s View Utilitarianism, one of the most influential ideas of modernity, deals with the summum bonum, or the highest good. The modern sense of... Read more
Dunkirk. I had mixed feelings before going. So many “cool” Christians said it was “a masterpiece.” And of course, I will not see a movie when it gets reviews like that. Yes, it’s one of my fatal flaws. But I did view it, and have many thoughts. First, there’s the obvious delimiting Nolan exercises on the film medium. The Guardian hammered him for this in this silly review. But I loved it. He takes a very big moment in history... Read more
On the notion of subjective unity of all reality: Excerpt: Rahner’s transcendental anthopology Rhaner conceived and developed a transcendental anthropology; human beings are “spirits in the world.” As such, human and divine realities meet in the subjective reality of the individual spirit. In other words, God becomes present to human experience as the transcendental horizon which makes possible all human knowing and willing. Thus, God is always present in human experience “not as object {but} in the self-realization of the... Read more
Transhumanists do a disservice by making transhumanism—a term first coined in 1957 by Julian Huxley in his essay New Bottles for New Wine—seem appealing because it’s based on speculative philosophy that reduces the self to a series of ones and zeroes. I feel like I’m looking into those mid-90’s mirror glasses of Morpheus trying to decide if I should take the blue pill or the red pill. Which one let’s me wake up like nothing’s happened, again? Transhumanism evangelists tell... Read more
It took me a long time to figure out what grace is, how it works, and what it sounds like. Read more
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