When I was a young mother trying to finish a Bachelor of Arts in English, I relished my Tuesday evening class at the local college. The English department head, a kind woman with twinkling eyes and exacting standards, required us to read a book a week and come prepared to spend the first 30 minutes … Continue reading “Go and Be Human” with Close Reads: A Podcast for the Incurable Reader
“One year from now, you are likely to be much the same person except for the people you meet and the books you read.” I don’t remember who told me this back when I was young but I never forgot it; it's helped me track my reading year after year ever since. Lately the Goodreads Reading … Continue reading Fiction, News Addiction and The Genesis of Gender: Standouts from a Reading Year
The Bible came up in conversation the other day. Didn't I know, I was asked, that the gospels were written a hundred years after the death of Jesus Christ? Why on earth would I believe the gospels were true? It's a fair question, so it's essential to know that compelling evidence for gospel historicity is … Continue reading Gospel Historicity and Resurrection Hope
T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock speaks heavily into our contemporary souls of "time to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." Who are we, really, aside from our curated Instagram personas, our virtue signals and our self-justifications? What is the truth we hide even from ourselves? In Till … Continue reading C.S. Lewis’ Till We Have Faces and the Slow Liberation of Our True Selves
After watching a televised World War II movie with my father one evening (it may have been Patton or The Guns of Navarone) he turned down the volume during the film's closing credits. "People always give generals like Patton and MacArthur credit for winning World War II," he quietly commented from his recliner. "But that … Continue reading A Hobbit, a Wardrobe and a Great Film about the Great War
The tension in many a good story centers on a hero's struggle, as opposition mounts, to remember his identity or to recall her mission. Succumbing to Sirens and Circes is perilous and treasure greater than victory awaits the unwavering. In Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time, for instance, Meg Murry's mission is to rescue her … Continue reading The Tao or the Wow: How Ancient Texts Rehumanize the Heart
I once asked a kindergarten boy if there was anything he'd like me to tell his mom, who'd asked me to call her after a counseling session with her son. "Tell her to get off the phone!" he snapped with a bitterness that took me by surprise. "What? You mean she talks on the phone a … Continue reading Castles, Catch and Kairos: Relearning Play in an Age of Digital Distraction
One of my favorite moments in The Chronicles of Narnia occurs in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when Aslan, the golden-lion Christ figure, breathes life into creatures who had been turned to stone by the White Witch. Having released the statue-captives from bondage, Aslan immediately prepares them for battle: The stone lion Aslan … Continue reading Aslan, Ashes and Jonah: the Incredible Opportunity of a Lenten Prophetic Witness
It seems almost everyone is complaining about division in the culture, but our loudest hate-speech protesters often behave no better than the groups they complain about. And if we're honest with ourselves, most of the rest of us have, at least once in a while, been edgier with opponents than we're proud of. Try as … Continue reading Celebrate Strong Dads with a Song and a Slice of Enemy Pie (and Learn to Love Your Enemies Too)
"In the early days of World War II, an odd book appeared in England and America," Thomas Howard writes in his introduction to the fiction of C.S. Lewis. "It seemed to be a collection of letters from an old devil to a younger one, telling him how to handle a man who had been assigned … Continue reading Screwtape’s Diabolical Tips for Advancing in Pride: Be Smug, Superior and Politically Divisive
