February 2012
6 posts
A video interpretation of the Book of Revelation... →
Marilynne Robinson in the Chronicle of Higher... →
“…societies flourish or fail not only in the debates over how to tax and...”
– Ross Douthat
“Let them be those good neighbors.”
– Tim Keller responds to NYC’s decision to ban churches from worshipping in schools.
The Demand Side of Human Trafficking: Praying for... →
Many good and noble efforts are focused on addressing the problem of modern-day slavery, especially the needs of the exploited, yet the demand is seemingly insatiable. Initiatives focused on the needs and redemption of the exploiters are relatively rare.
Pray for the Johns Day is one small, humble effort to acknowledge the scale of the problem and ask God to intervene in the lives of those who...
“Senior Fellow Gideon Strauss, argues about sanctions on Iran in Think Christian:...”
– http://thinkchristian.net/why-sanctions-against-iran-represent-love-in-action
January 2012
15 posts
“A nice shout-out for Comment and its publisher Ray Pennings, on the difference...”
– http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/01/30/whats-the-difference-neo-calvinist-vs-neocalvinist/
“When government expands, it’s often at the expense of alternative expressions of...”
– Ross Douthat offers trenchant thoughts on the link between religious freedom, a healthy social infrastructure, and government.
Nick Spencer, of Theos, writes: "So now we know.... →
Comment's Canadian audience, particularly those in... →
“Happiness” in our work is not a right—it’s a gift, and sometimes it’s withheld...”
– Wisdom from Comment editor Alissa Wilkinson.
“…competition is most healthy when it occurs in an environment of...”
– Andy Crouch writes about his wife’s work as an experimental physicist.
“De Botton claims that one can be an atheist while still finding religion...”
– Terry Eagleton hoists Alain De Botton on his finely polished English petard.
“You know how you can tell if a church is beautiful? Brides. If brides want to...”
– Another jaw-dropping church renovation.
“Discerning that vocation is in a certain sense one’s primary job; and if you do...”
– Robert P. George’s advice to young Catholics is applicable to all young Christians, methinks.
Dr. Peter Leithart is visiting Comment's very own... →
“Realists would tell us that peace is the absence of war, but Epiphany reminds us...”
– Our very own Robert Joustra channels St. Augustine this day of Epiphany.
“On one winter evening the normal limitations of our bodies seemed to fall away...”
– Gregory Wolfe, at his finest.
“If a columnist is to persuade you to spend it with him, even for two minutes,...”
– A fine piece from Andrew Coyne at the National Post.
“All of us are better when we’re loved.”
– Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief.
“[Worshippers] don’t go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service,...”
– C.S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm
December 2011
7 posts
To institutionalize or not to institutionalize:... →
“But we know not all was calm and bright on the night of our Savior’s birth,...”
– A wonderful piece of writing on North Korea from Adele Konyndyk over at the Think Christian blog.
“Much of civilisation rests on the proper response to death, simple unalloyed...”
– Peter Hitchens reflecting on the death of his brother Christopher. He will be missed.
“The Gospel came to the Greeks and the Greeks turned it into a philosophy. The...”
– Ed Stetzer - the Problem with Pastor as Rock Star - via Alan Jacobs, via etc.
“Within the African population, the Christian community covers the whole spectrum...”
– Rudzani Muloiwa, in Comment.
The Christmas Story →
St Paul’s Arts ‘n’ Kids tell the story of Christmas 2010. Presented at GLOW Carols by Glowstick on 12 December 2010 at Vector Arena, Auckland. HT: Margie Haack.
Theos (U.K. think tank) launches a new report just... →
While Christmas must undoubtedly be a time for family and generosity, Stephen Holmes argues, it should also be a moment when we hear and attend to the Bible’s message of justice and freedom for all.
November 2011
8 posts
“To say that humans are essentially “religious” is to claim that they...”
– Jamie Smith via Fors Clavigera
Birmingham Is Not New York: 5 Cautions for Arts... →
Including this:
Start with where you are. If your church is in a region with a strong history of quilt making, that should be the starting point for your arts ministry. Don’t open with a white cube gallery space. Take a lot of time to listen to the artists and designers in your church to understand the history and legacy of the creative process in your region. Think outside just painting and...
“It is the deep groundswell of social cohesion, the corporately felt commitments...”
– Oliver O’Donovan, on St. Augustine, from his and Joan Lockwood O’Donovan’s survey of early Christian political thought.
Manna Christian Fellowship
Our friends at Princeton University’s Manna Christian Fellowship are looking for an Executive Director:
MANNA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP is a dynamic and vibrant evangelical, inter-denominational chaplaincy at Princeton University, focused on thoughtfully engaging the pluralistic university community with a coherent worldview grounded in the Christian gospel. Manna seeks a qualified individual to...
“Culture is a gift from the old to the young, and the younger generation’s...”
– http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2011/11/how-the-church-lost-her-soundscape
LET THE MUPPETS HOST THE OSCARS. →
HT to our friend Jeffrey Overstreet.
“Market economies, free enterprise, and private property are important, and so...”
– Ryan Anderson, c/o Public Discourse
Dare to read this →
Daniel Nayeri has four very striking short videos out, to promote his new book from Candlewick Press, “Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow.” Our favourite is the third video, “Wish Police.” Kirkus Reviews calls Nayeri a modern-day Lewis Carroll … make up your own mind.
October 2011
8 posts
30% off Jonathan Chaplin's newest book, "Herman... →
University of Notre Dame Press is offering 30% off select titles from Oct 15-Nov 15. Enter the sale promo code: NDEOS11 at the shopping cart. If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Jonathan’s book, now is your chance!
Principles of Engagement
1. The Christian cultural apologist finds something fundamentally true in antagonistic non-Christian cultural work.
2. The Christian artist or apologist does not seek to show that the credibility of faith is unassailable, but does affirm positive content and the credibility of faith through its freedom to let itself be judged and grow;
3. Christianity helps a secular vision of reality to be true...
Madison Avenue’s Vision of Love →
During regular season, baseball fans endured a summer full of extreme close-ups of a big-eyed girl demanding constant cute-isms of a weary boyfriend; she looks panicked when nauseating terms of endearment are not tripping off his tongue. In a voiceover, the anxious male—trying to avoid what we must understand will be an inevitable “scene” if he does not cough up a coo—nimbly saves himself by...
“But the rest of us, as grateful as we are for his legacy, still have to decide...”
– Andy Crouch on Steve Jobs’ view of life, death and hope — an excellent piece of writing.
“…the imperative to convert their indigenous faith-based thinking into an...”
– The estimable Jonathan Chaplin on religion in public discourse. Really, this should be required reading for all students of politics…and all MPs, Reps and Senators.
“Thanks to his mix of tech-savvy and aesthetic perfectionism, the hardware and...”
– Ross Douthat chimes in. The description of “laggard quasi-Luddite doubter” describes at least one of Comment’s editors who has never owned, and rarely uses, Apple products. You guess which one.
“So yes, rest in peace Steve jobs - the peace that entails gaining just this kind...”
– The young but wise Matthew Milliner on the passing of Steve Jobs.
“The most fundamental question of our technological age is this: Will technology...”
– Andy Crouch on Steve Jobs (RIP).
September 2011
17 posts
“Pathos is not something you talk about in contemporary art. But an altarpiece is...”
–
David Mach
Not all religious art is made by believers →
Comment author Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin in The Guardian.
“Practically never does anyone act sanely in public affairs.”
– Plato, Republic 496c.
“To put it in the ancient formula, lex orandi, lex credendi est: The language of...”
– Worshiping Up to Our Theology
“Hammarskjold deeply believed that “in the very radical sense of the Gospels, all...”
– Kwang Kim reflects on mentorship, vocation and calling at the Washington Institute’s (shiny new) webpage.