Author Archives: davetcourt

Near the end of Alizah Holstein’s captivating memoir, My Roman History, documenting her journey from Portland to Rome, and subsequently her journey into academia and ultimately out the other side, she poses an exercise. One that anyone can try. Think back to a critical juncture in your life Think about the narrative you have builtContinue reading “Finding Oneself Present in History”

First off, if you haven’t heard of the book Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life by Shai Held, look it up, track down a copy, it will change your life. I say this as a Christian. It not only lead me to an enriched understanding of Judaism, it’s humble and gracious approach toContinue reading “This World is About Love: Finding God at the Intersection of Emotion and Action”

This feels like such a random read and response, but its what I’ve been mulling over these past couple days. In a Globe and Mail article penned by Canadian author Katherine Johnson, she laments a culture in which “we are living in a time when people do not take social invitations seriously.” Or, as sheContinue reading “The “Sorry, I Can’t Make it Tonight Era: Where Social Obligation Meets Social Hiearchy”

Its interesting how paradigm shifting works can quickly begin to reframe everything around it. This is what happens when you exchange one lens for another. In this case I’m thinking about Jason Staple’s monumental work Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites. In it he proposes a blind spot in common theologicalContinue reading “Luke 14: Considering the Lens Through Which We Read the Scriptures”

“It is clear to what a degree the discovery- that is, the revelation- of a sacred space possesses existential value for religious man; for nothing can begin, nothing can be done, without a previous orientation- and any orientation implies aquiring a fixed point. It is for this reason that religious man has always sought toContinue reading “The Sacred and the Profane: Discovering The Power of Mystery in a Secularized World”

In his book Light of the mind, Light of the World: illuminating Science Through Faith, Spencer Klaven examines the history of the modern scientfic enterprise through the lens of the mind-matter divide. He notes that science, used in this modernist sense, can only hand us a representation of reality, not Reality itself, and shows howContinue reading “The Light of the Mind, the Light of the World: Where Cinema and Reality Collide”

I’m presently working through a book by Sarah Irving-Stonebraker called Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age. In it Irving-Stonebraker makes the case that that we (the modern West) are living in an “ahistorical age.” By ahistorical she means a time that is without a history and a time that is againstContinue reading “Priests of History and The Invention of Prehistory: Learning to Navigate an Ahistorical Age”

With each new church season we (my church) work our way through one of the Gospels. We are presently in the Gospel of Luke. This morning we looked at the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) The great thing about this practice is that each new season brings with it a fresh context, thusContinue reading “The Good Samaritan and Hope For The World: Seeing a Familiar Passage Through Fresh Eyes”

I was genuinely taken captive by Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book Between The World and Me, read from the vantage point of being a white male living in Canada. Yes, I am certain Coates has his detractors and his disagreements- comes with the politicized territory. But I found him to be a poignant window into a worldContinue reading “Coates, The Message, and the Power of A Word In a World of Misunderstanding”

James Monaco, in his book How To Read A Film, connects the development of film to the science of brain function. On a technical level, to tell a story on film requires understanding how it is that we process images, and the art of film, of creating on-screen storytelling methods which imitate movement in time andContinue reading “Film, The Brain, And The Art of Knowing: Building a Philosophy For Life”