This past Thursday I returned to work. Arriving early and walking down the empty hallways, it’s always an eerie feeling to think how soon they will be filled with hordes of teenagers. I thought about all of the things I needed to prepare before I was ready, and I knew I was further away than I had hoped. In the days that have followed, I … Continue reading Monday Musings (August 14, 2017): A Praying Professor
Yesterday Josh Dyson published an excellent piece on Fahrenheit 451, “Freedom in the Fire,” so I thought today would be a good day to share my Book Blurb on the novel as well. I finally got around to reading this book last summer, and I realize I should have done so much sooner. It has features of character development that could be better, but Bradbury’s portrayal of … Continue reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Book Blurbs)
Last week Megan Allen posted an article called “Professional Creep: How Work Can Take Over Your Life (and Your Book List)” in which she tells the story of how she was preparing to bring books on grant writing on a vacation. She laments that she has failed to maintain the same joy and wonder that she had as a kid with a bag full of … Continue reading Monday Musings (August 7, 2017): Reading for Wonder, Imagination, and Joy
Baker provides a succinct and helpful introduction to political thought. He includes brief surveys of major political philosophers such as Hobbes, Mill, Locke, and Rousseau, as well as surveying some key political themes like justice, order, and freedom. He does an excellent job of surveying the role of government generally and specific Christian contribution to government. This is an excellent introduction in both clarity and … Continue reading Political Thought: A Student’s Guide by Hunter Baker (Book Blurbs)
I recently read an excellent reflection by Phillip Yancey called “Reading Wars” in which he reflects on how easy it is to train ourselves only to read short, blog-like entries and fail to dive into deep and difficult books. Now, please don’t stop reading my short, blog-like entries, but do take care that we also cultivate the difficult skill of analytical reading. My point in … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 31, 2017): Fighting for Time to Read
This book was even better than expected. It is thought-provoking, wonderfully written, and told in an interesting way, mixing flashbacks with inward thoughts and dialogue in the flow of the narrative. It is particularly helpful for our present day which still deals with issues of race and the role of the government, both of which stand at the center of the conflict in the novel. … Continue reading Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (Book Blurbs)
Failure is Not an Option, but It Does Have Consequences: Eragon’s Blessing and the High Call of Christian Leaders in the Inheritance Saga Near the end of Eragon, (Book 1 of the Inheritance Saga), a woman brings a young girl named Elva to Eragon that he might bless her. Desiring to make the blessing meaningful, Eragon speaks in the ancient language as Saphira (his dragon) touches … Continue reading Failure is Not an Option, but It Does Have Consequences (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction)
I wrote a piece not long ago called “Sabermetrics and Grades”in which I discussed the way in which baseball, long known for its love of statistics, has seen a revolution in the scouting, managing, and playing of the game based on advanced statistics–called sabermetrics–that purport to do a better job of identifying those things that impact game outcome. I suggested that we needed a similar … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 24, 2017): Repairing the Ruins of Grades
My Mental Attic: Christian Vocation in A Study in Scarlet Besides having memorable characters that have seen numerous television and movie portrayals in recent years, the quality of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s works also stands out through the thinking that comes through his characters. Several times in conversations throughout these stories I have been forced to stop the story to think about the depth of what … Continue reading My Mental Attic (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
I’ve been meaning to read this for years, and it did not disappoint. Brilliant storytelling, extensive research, and a compelling story, this exceeded my high expectations. Larson succeeds in weaving together threads of multiple storylines while keeping the central narrative of the World’s Fair in primary perspective. This book encapsulates everything from architectural marvels to insights into the mind of a psychopath to a vision … Continue reading Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Book Blurbs)
How’s the Weather: Modern Day Evangelism in The Club of Queer Trades I once wrote a short story for a creative writing class about a guy at a bus stop. He talked about the most random, incoherent, and meaningless things, and it drove the woman sitting next to him crazy. I won’t reproduce that story here; I will only say that my professor loved it, though … Continue reading How’s the Weather? (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
I’m sitting in an auto shop waiting on my car to be inspected and serviced, and I began thinking about Plato’s Republic, specifically the part where he discusses how each person has their part to play in a just society–cobblers make the shoes, bakers bake, and so on. As each person does his job well, the community can flourish. If, however, everyone tried to do … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 17, 2017): School Flourishing
The Classical Thistle 