Good Links

Good food for thought, reflection, and conversation: The 88-year-old son of a slave shares his fascinating story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/07/27/slave-son-racism-george-floyd/ A New Testament scholar shows how the early church was mocked for being welcoming to women: https://www.michaeljkruger.com/how-early-christianity-was-mocked-for-welcoming-women/ A controversy over Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor’s racism erupts: https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/cancelling-flannery-oconnor Nostalgic for nostalgia: people used to pine for a simpler life. Now they’ve […]

Kathryn Freeman draws attention to hidden heroines of the faith: “In the proportion of evangelical lessons that reference women at all, we are more likely to hear about the faith of Elisabeth Elliot, Corrie ten Boom, Hannah More, or Ruth Graham than Jo Ann Robinson, Autherine Lucy, Ida B. Wells, or Fannie Lou Hamer. Even […]

Karen Swallow Prior reviews a documentary: “Such luminaries are indicative of the film’s high production quality. And indeed, Flannery serves up a feast for the ears and eyes, featuring original and traditional music on the soundtrack, archival film clips and photographs, and sumptuous camera shots of O’Connor’s rural home and personal possessions. The original animated segments that […]

Daniel Burke wonders about the coming election: “That's especially true of those like Newbell who have spent significant time in predominantly White spaces. Many said they are bracing for a ‘whitelash’ -- the moment White Christians tire of talking about race and bristle when Black pastors or congregants want to continue the conversation. Newbell said she is […]

Kristen Rudd has a terrible nightmare: “We are all going to die, but we are all also going to do a lot of living in the meantime, God-willing. I have a greater likelihood of lying awake for hours at night—with or without nightmares—than I do of being shot in the neck by a random stranger. […]

  Jasmine Holmes offers an excerpt from her book: “I want you to be the one who speaks calm into chaos. The one who pursues peace. The one who asks clarifying questions and seeks understanding. The one who will not rest until you can state your opponent’s argument in terms so compassionate that you finally […]

Russell Moore, discussing religious freedom, concludes: “So let’s have our cultural arguments, with conviction. Americans disagree on some important things — not just on marriage and sexuality, but often on things as fundamental as God and the meaning of life. But, as we have those arguments, let’s keep our First Amendment and our history of […]

Robert Barnes summarizes the new Supreme Court decision: “The commission also looked at a 1989 Supreme Court decision that said federal law protected against discrimination based on stereotypes; the court found for a woman who had not been promoted because her employers found her too aggressive and her manner of dress not feminine enough. That […]

Paul O’Donnell reports on Tim Keller’s recent diagnosis: “Pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to diagnose, and as a result many cases are not identified until it has already spread, making it one of the most lethal cancers. But if caught early, survival rates can be comparable to other forms of the disease. Keller, in his […]