Monday Musings (July 24, 2017): Repairing the Ruins of Grades
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
Nexus Notes–July 21, 2017
A nexus is a series of connections linking two or more things. These notes are dedicated to linking us to great content elsewhere out on the web. Bill Carey on Classical Math A short video describing what a classical rhetoric math class should look like—and it is not a cookbook model! Base Camp Live Podcast Check out a new podcast series from Davies Owens … Continue reading Nexus Notes–July 21, 2017
My Mental Attic (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
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)
Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Book Blurbs)
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? (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
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)
Monday Musings (July 17, 2017): School Flourishing
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 Myth of Bob Dylan
By Josh Dyson, Classical School of Wichita In Doug Wilson’s June 15, 2017 “Content Cluster” email blast he shared a link to the video of Bob Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Lecture in Literature. Just this last year Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. As you may or may not remember, the Nobel committee could not get in contact with Dylan for some time. Apparently, even … Continue reading The Myth of Bob Dylan
Through the Looking Glass (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
Through the Looking Glass: Our World and Hope for the New Jerusalem in The Man Who Was Thursday The apostle Paul once wrote that we currently “see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor 13:12). James likewise uses the image of a mirror to … Continue reading Through the Looking Glass (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
Silence by Shusaku Endo (Book Blurbs)
Book Blurbs is a series of posts that provide short recommendations of good books in a variety of genres to help get the next great book in your hands. Endo’s Silence is a phenomenal work of historical fiction. Set in 17th century Japan, Silence tells the story of Sebastian Rodrigues, a Jesuit missionary priest who enters Japan with a fellow priest named Garrpe during the … Continue reading Silence by Shusaku Endo (Book Blurbs)
Bilbo, Middle Earth, and the Kingdom of God (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
Bilbo, Middle Earth, and the Kingdom of God: Sanctification in the Journey of Life in The Hobbit I have been intrigued at how some books stand the test of time in ways beyond what one might expect. It is no surprise that some books remain a foundational work in a certain genre, or that readers continue to pick up the works of Charles Dickens because of … Continue reading Bilbo, Middle Earth, and the Kingdom of God (Theology through the Eyes of Fiction Series)
Monday Musings (July 10, 2017): Reading Journals
I have always valued owning books over borrowing them from libraries. The most significant reason for this otherwise terrible financial decision is that learning is worth the cost, and I learn much better by making notes and highlights in my own books and occasionally reading back through those than I do from merely reading a book and returning it. But despite highlights, underlines, notes, and … Continue reading Monday Musings (July 10, 2017): Reading Journals
Do We Really Want Government Schools to Crumble?
By Josh Dyson, Classical School of Wichita In the late 19th century and early 20th century, with industrialization progressing at an unprecedented rate, people and nations were gaining a great deal of confidence in what destiny lie before them. Many alliances were being made in attempts to protect themselves and proceed on to the next step that progress required. While there was unrest among certain … Continue reading Do We Really Want Government Schools to Crumble?
The Classical Thistle 