Month: December 2016
Social Media Resolutions for 2017
I will be less cynical. Sarcasm and withering criticism are to social media what static is to AM radio. There’s no need for one more person’s trying too hard to be funny. I won’t start or join a “pile-on.” If I...
Disappointed By Christmas
I’ve heard several people say the days and weeks after Christmas are one of the sadder and more melancholy times of the year for them. True for me as well. My parents have told me that when I was younger they watched...
C.S. Lewis on Christmas Gifts
From “What Christmas Means to Me” …the idea that not only all friends but even all acquaintances should give one another presents, or at least send one another cards, is quite modern and has been forced upon us by the...
The Threat to Reading
One of the most widely quoted sentences of Sir Francis Bacon–it comes from his essay “Of Studies”–concerns the reading of books: “Some books are to be tasted, others are to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested;...
Christmas and the Wrong Side of History
When you think about it, nearly everyone and everything connected to the first Christmas was on the wrong side of history. Zechariah and Elizabeth were on the wrong side of history for sure. They were an elderly Jewish couple, living...
It’s the Great Pariah, Charlie Brown!
Scene 1: An online “journalism” site pretends to be utterly shocked to find that two evangelical Christians, hosts of a feverishly popular home renovation show, actually attend an evangelical church, pastored by an evangelical theologian. The site earnestly contends (with...
First thoughts on “Rogue One”
Some first impressions from tonight’s screening of Rogue One: This is the Star Wars film that critics of George Lucas’ prequels wanted instead. I told my brother-in law-in the car heading home that Rogue One is a love letter to...
A note of welcome
I’m terrible at making meaningful “welcome” or “About me” pages. But since this is the inaugural post at my Mere Orthodoxy blog, it’s probably fitting that I take a second and offer some preliminary welcome and thanks. Firstly, welcome to...