Words to Live/Write By

“If you would not be forgotten
As soon as you are dead and rotten
Either write things worth reading
Or do things worth the writing”
- Benjamin Franklin

Writer’s Life

I rarely think of or introduce myself as a writer (that is, a Writer), but these are familiar nonetheless (#2 is my favorite, but watch them all to experience the process).

Sobering Up

Maybe I’m just suffering from a DNC hangover, but apparently I’m not the only one. You have to read David Brooks’ column in the New York Times today. It’s a little cynical for him, but see if you can spot some truth in and among the overstatement. Here’s his opening paragraph:
“My fellow Americans, it is an honor [...]

Letters to Malcolm by C.S. Lewis

Despite his stated belief in purgatory (albeit somewhat qualified) and some interesting linguistic gymnastics on the topic of bodily resurrection, C.S. Lewis’s last book (published post-humously), Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, offers insight and comfort regarding the duty (and sometimes drudgery) of prayer. Some favorite quotes:
“We have long since agreed that if our prayers are [...]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Interpretation

A few weeks ago, a post in which I wrote on gay marriage got quite a bit of traffic and discussion. In the midst of the interactions, some important questions came up pertaining to my use of the Bible as the basis for my thinking.
For instance, escapethedrain wrote in comment #2:
“If you are using the bible [...]

On Nostalgia

“Nostalgia undermines the ability to make intelligent use of the past. Memory, in contrast, does not idealize the past to condemn the present, but draws hope from the past in order to enrich the present and guide the future.” Christopher Lasch
“Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” Peter De Vries

Listening to Lamott

Last night my nine-year-old and I went to hear author Anne Lamott read from her new book, Grace (Eventually). The setting for the evening was the “sanctuary” of the Ethical Society of St. Louis, and the place was packed with at least 500-600 folks eager to hear Lamott’s random but winsome thoughts about writing, politics, [...]

Introducing

As an unofficial ambassador for the blogosphere, let me introduce you to three new blogs (and the people behind them) worth your reading time in the future:

My Life in Sweat Pants – a good friend from my old Navigator days, Leura is a freelance editor and terrific writer (and I say that not just because [...]

Emerging Evangelicalism?

Rob Bell was featured in Time last week, causing somewhat of a stir among the evangelical faithful that perhaps an heir apparent to the fading Billy Graham is emerging. Bell, of course, is used to “emerging” – he’s founding pastor of Mars Hill Church (which I think I visited once back in the mid-90’s but [...]

JPod Quotes

Three favorite quotes (among others) from various characters in Douglas Coupland’s JPod:

“You can’t fake creativity, competence, or sexual arousal.”
“After a week of intense googling, we’ve started to burn out knowing the answer to everything. God must feel that way all the time. I think people in the year 2020 are going to be nostalgic for [...]

Dorothy Sayers on War

Just finished a little 100-page book titled Creed or Chaos?, a collection of essays written by Dorothy Sayers at the height of World War II. Consider the timeliness of these quotes:
“The people who say that this is a war of economics or of power politics, are only dabbling about on the surface of things. Even [...]

David Brooks: “The Odyssey Years”

My favorite New York Times writer, David Brooks, had an interesting piece Tuesday on a new stage of life he’s calling “the odyssey years”. While I didn’t pay him anything to write it, his is a fantastic endorsement of a certain book I’d shamelessly recommend. But I digress. He writes:
“There used to be four common [...]

Who Are the Real Adolescents?

Columnist Diana West has a new book out that I hope is even half as good as its quotes. The book is called The Death of the Grown-Up: How America’s Arrested Development is Bringing Down Western Civilization and, while the subtitle is perhaps overdramatic, her thesis is right on. If you read nothing else of [...]

Original Sin

Good quote today concerning original sin from the book, Beyond Identity, by Dick Keyes:
“The original sin is refusal to be and live as a creature and instead to pretend at knowing better than God himself, to set oneself up as the ultimate judge…The original sin is not always expressed in conscious animosity toward God. More [...]

The Big Read

Our little book club at Memorial is taking part in The Big Read, a national effort modeled on successful “city read” programs designed to encourage literary reading by helping communities come together to read and discuss a single book. The selected book is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
Lectures, readings, art exhibitions, theater productions, book discussion groups, [...]

Links for the Weekend

If all goes well, you probably won’t hear much from me until early next week. Now that my two-week Pastoral Theology intensive ended this morning, I’ve got a couple papers to write, the larger of which is a ten-pager on “whatever aspect of your understanding, personality or character you consider might be most problematic for [...]

The Irrelevance of Relevance

I’d always heard about (and wanted to read for some time) Henri Nouwen’s In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, a book about Nouwen’s life and ministry working with the mentally handicapped after being a priest, as well as a professor at Harvard.
Why the move? Nouwen writes:
“After twenty-five years of priesthood, I found [...]

Meet Edward Abbey

Just got my copy of Orion magazine today and spent some quality time with it this evening. Of particular enjoyment was a collection of unpublished letters written by the late Edward Abbey (think Wendell Berry with a mean streak), about whom the editors write:
“Hands down, no one did more to inspire, entertain, refresh, and invigorate [...]