If she - whipped herself for fun as a child - doesn't need food to live - moves popes and kings to do her bidding she's not your girl. She's St. Catherine of Siena
Book review: “Catherine of Siena” by Sigrid Undset
Book review: “Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World”
This book offers a well-defended critique of markets. In sum: inequality is in part due to morally dubious behavior of corporate elites, and big philanthropy is an undemocratic process that circumvents elected representatives of the people. Bravo. You convinced me.
Book review: “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess
If I can't watch a rated R movie, then I can just read the book, right? This book was a hard one to stomach. I thought 1984 was bad.
Book review: Isaiah Berlin’s “The Power of Ideas”
Perhaps the statement "ideas have power" sounds super-obvious. But if that's the case, we had gosh darn take a moment to examine what ideas are driving us. A timely book considering the strong ideologies present in politics today.
“I see you”: Of witnessing and healing
On Papa Ostler's "Listen Learn Love" podcast, Julie Lee expresses this idea of "I See You", of witnessing and being present in another person's pain, and it really touched me. I tried to put together a few words in response.
Book review: “Night” by Elie Wiesel
What do you say to someone who has gone through hell itself? Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. You witness. And you mourn.
Book review: “A Secular Age” by Charles Taylor
Most accounts of secularization are pretty flat: the march of clear and virtuous reason against the suffocating faith of the Middle Ages. Charles Taylor gives much more detailed account than these over-simplifications-- and regardless of your background, Taylor's work is an engaging read.
Book review: “C. S. Lewis’s Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason”
Materialism (the idea that there are no supernatural causes) is such a fundamental assumption of modern science, rarely will anyone take the time to state it. But here, C. S. Lewis takes the existence of reason itself as a refutation of materialism. A great analysis by Reppert.
With gentleness and meekness: Sustaining and defending
God doesn't ask us to be heresy hunters. We need to be willing to mourn with those that mourn, even as others criticize what we consider to be holy. And loving people will always be more important than making sure everyone is aware of your orthodoxy.
