God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, Evangelical. You’ve accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, been born again, and washed in the blood! So now make sure that you have your quiet time, go to Bible study, and witness. But while you’re doing all those things, Evangelical, just know…
Nathan Gilmour leads a discussion with Michial Farmer and David Grubbs about two stories by the late Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez—“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and “The Handomest Drowned Man in the World.” Our opening music this week is Pep Squad’s “Angel,” from their 1998 album No Doy!
One of the persistent heroes of philosophically minded folks is Socrates, the godfatherof question-askers, the Athenian philosopher, the drinker of hemlock. Although the Platonic dialogues never present him as entirely averse to speech-making, nonetheless, Socrates, in the Apology, famously describes himself as one who doesn’t relay divine wisdom to mortals so much as he asks questions…
Among Evangelicals, John Wesley should need no introduction. A preacher, missionary, theologian,and hymn-writer, Wesley was one of those voices that shook the Enlightened eighteenth century awake, and his call for authentic faith and authentic holiness was heard on both sides of the Atlantic. Wesley’s radical methods and polemical fervor met with enthusiasm and antagonism, and his reputation…
Rita Koganzon critiques the latest developmental category, “emerging adulthood.” Stanley Fish laments the apparent demise of the humanities in Obama’s State of the Union speech. James Ryerson ponders (and narrates) the course of the philosophical novel. Glenn Greenwald throws down the gauntlet: can you spot the Republican? Jeffrey Polet wonders what they’re teaching children these…
Fred Sanders urges Christians to read Friedrich Nietzsche. In a Grubbsian moment, John Stackhouse makes a case for classical apologetics. Christianity Today interviews Billy Graham, who wishes he hadn’t been so involved in politics. Kristopher Jamsa digs up a couple of lost J.D. Salinger stories. Fool’s Mate: Gambit, the NYT chess blog, calls it quits.