Some of my most revealing discussions happen on airplanes, during long flights. They usually begin when the person imprisoned in the seat beside me asks what I do for a living. When I reply that I work for a Christian worldview ministry, I can see the wheels turning. Occasionally, they’ll reply, “Awesome! I’m a Christian, too, and this is where I go to church.” But more often, I hear defensiveness, reservation, or an implied challenge. “I believe in a higher... Read more
The Dunning-Kruger effect (famously described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger) is the idea that people who know little to nothing about a subject tend to wildly overestimate their competence in that subject. This is because their knowledge is so limited, they lack even the categories to recognize their own ignorance. We see the Dunning-Kruger effect at work in historian Tom Holland’s confession at the beginning of his book “Dominion.” Holland (whom I interviewed last year on the... Read more
The late Rich Mullins wrote a lot of songs that changed people’s lives and shaped their faith. But one song in particular has a reputation for grabbing the attention of unwary listeners and has even been known to convert souls. In “If I Stand,” Rich sings: “There’s more that rises in the morning than the sun, and more that shines in the night than just the moon. There’s more than just this fire here that keeps me warm, in a... Read more
The first few minutes of Pixar’s 2009 smash hit “Up” are unforgettable for a lot of reasons. We were enchanted and moved watching Carl and Ellie develop a friendship as children, which eventually blossomed into a love that led them to the altar and into the fixer-upper house where they met. We see flashes of their long years together, grieve with their unfulfilled desire f+or children, and watch as they grow older and closer. Then Ellie dies, leaving Carl by... Read more
It’s hard to pick your favorite books by a guy like C. S. Lewis. He’s become much more than just another author for me. After reading my first few Lewis books, I was, as my friend Steven Wedgeworth once put it, ready to learn at the feet of the master. He’s one of the great influences on my life. So when I say his novel “Perelandra” has had an outsized impact on me even for Lewis, you know I’m not... Read more
There’s a moment in childhood when you realize that the world is a much bigger place than the family farm (or apartment, suburban home, or village you call home). This awakening looks different for boys and girls, and I can tell only one side of that story from experience. But mine was a lot like Janner Igiby’s moment of awakening. He looked out over the Dark Sea of Darkness and knew his life until then was insignificant. I looked out... Read more
Two years ago, I embarked on my longest fictional read to date with Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time.” Weighing in at almost four-and-a-half million words, this brick wall of a series is enough to make even seasoned fans of fantasy count the cost. Last week I finished book fourteen, “A Memory of Light” as I sat on my front porch and the sun dipped below the rooftops. This four-course meal of a saga fed my imagination as few books... Read more
Recently, I’ve had occasion to ponder suffering in a deeper way than ever before. I say this not because the situation I’m in is worse than it has ever been (my family have by now become hardened veterans of this private war), but because I’ve become more familiar with the true character of suffering. It isn’t about circumstances. Not really. As pro-life author Stephanie Gray Connors explained in our recent conversation on Upstream, suffering is the gulf between what we... Read more
TheOneRing.net reported recently that the talent agency in charge of hiring actors for Amazon’s upcoming prequel series to “The Lord of the Rings” put out a casting call for men and women who are “comfortable with nudity.” The ad continues: “Up to $500 per day. We need Nude people based in Auckland – age 18 plus, all shapes and sizes…” If this is accurate, it doesn’t take a Palantír to see that Amazon and director J. A. Bayona intend to twist the mythology... Read more
On my drive home from a men’s Bible study on Tuesday night, my five-year-old son Elijah (who always accompanies me to give his mom a break) announced, “I just love fighting. I love swords. I like to kill the bad guys.” His declaration followed weeks of donning whatever makeshift armor lay close at hand and taking up weapons ranging from brooms to vacuum cleaner parts (His trusty shield is always filched from among our kitchen pot lids). Many parents, confronted... Read more
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