Uneasy reader

Posted on by albrooke

gardnerThus the value of great fiction, we begin to suspect, is not just that it entertains us or distracts us from our troubles, not just that it broadens our knowledge of people and places, but also that it helps us know what we believe, reinforces those qualities that are noblest in us, leads us to feel uneasy about our faults and limitations.

John Gardner, The Art of Fiction 31 (1983).

Of course Gardner does not hold this thought without reservation (notice the “we begin to suspect”), but he reasonably prompts us to add this to our internal lists of what fiction is for.  I had forgotten how enjoyable this book is.

God’s rights, and ours

Posted on by albrooke

Jesus says, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” but it is easy to kid ourselves that he makes no demands whatsoever.  The dividing line between believer and non-believer isn’t a matter of fine theological detail, or practical living as a kind, loving person, it is recognition that the Creator has a right to ask something of me that I do not want to give, and that my compliance is flawed.  The fine theological details come in deciding what he actually requires.  The practical living comes in deciding whether I will give it, and what needs to be done when I fail or rebel.

Everest and PTSD

Posted on by albrooke

I fretted about writing this article. I’m not a climber. I tell myself I have no right to be emotional about a film depicting other people’s tragedies. I have no right to make my experience in Nepal more significant than anybody else’s.

But I’m still going to tell you all about it. Maybe then my brain won’t be so stuck, unable to hurdle the wide gap between the scariest things I thought could happen at Base Camp and the scarier things that did.

Fascinating article by Svati Kirsten Narula, “I survived the deadliest day in Everest’s history, and I’m still surviving it” Quartz (September 25, 2015).: http://qz.com/509641/everest-base-camp-avalanche-i-survived-the-deadliest-day-and-im-still-surviving-it/

2-everest-base-campPicture of Everest Base Camp from http://jrmfoundation.org/nobounds/

Post-Obergefell

Posted on by albrooke

issue_55f8274286f99 In post-Obergefell America, Evangelicals and other orthodox Christians will be unable to outrun our freakishness. That is no reason for panic. Some will suggest that a Christian sexual ethic puts the churches on the “wrong side of history.” Well, we’ve been on the wrong side of history since A.D. 33. The “right side of history” was the Eternal City of Rome. And then the right side of history was the French Revolution. And then the right side of history was scientific naturalism and state socialism. And yet, there stands Jesus still, on the wrong side of history but at the right hand of the Father.

Interesting article by Russell D. Moore in the current issue of First Things (“Evangelicals Won’t Cave: Why evangelicals will not be surrendering to the sexual revolution,” October 2015 (http://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/10/evangelicals-wont-cave).

Cromwell’s rule

Posted on by albrooke

This was a favorite saying of my Jurisprudence professor (William Powers) in law school:

I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be mistaken.

Thomas Carlyle, ed., Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches, vol. 1, 448. (Harper 1855).

Even Christians who are very sure that they know the mind of God ought to reserve some uncertainty.  We all recognize that we are flawed and sinful and that we are subject to confusion and delusion.  Let us all take one small step back from certainty.  We may be unapologetic in our faith in the redemptive work of Christ without claiming that we have the final word on everything.