Category Archives: Uncategorized

If you aren’t familiar with the book J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth (Bradley Birzer). it’s a must read. It was transformative for me, to be sure. Not only in my understanding of Tolkien, but in how I understand myth. As Birzer writes, To the modernist, “myth,” like religion, merely signifies a comfortable and entrenched lie. ForContinue reading “Mythic Michigan: Where Travels Meet Truth”

Listened to this on audio. Wish I had picked it up in paper copy or on kindle. In fact, I will be doing precisely that, because this is the kind of book I needed to highlight and underline and mark up. It’s that good. It’s the sort of book I immediately want to put intoContinue reading “My Full Review of Judaism Is About Love: Recovering The Heart of Jewish Life by Shai Held- A Book Everyone Needs to Read Because It Will Change Your Life”

For Lent this year I am spending time in the Psalms with the help of Elizabeth Caldwell’s new book Pause: Spending Lent With the Psalms. The first week of Lent has found me in Psalm 25, considering the theme of “paths”. Caldwell leads her readers in a series of reflections regarding where we find ourselvesContinue reading “Psalm 25: Learning To Find the Paths of God”

On the latest episode of The Good Fight (title: Jonathan Rauch on the Politicization of Christianity), host Yascha Mounk interviews Jonathan Rauch about the role religion plays in society, the subject of his latest book. In it Rauch, for as much as I disagree with many aspects of his approach regarding religion and religious history,Continue reading “Mounk, Rauch: Measuring Belief and Unbelief Amidst the Politicization of Christianity”

My church has this tradition called “guess who’s coming for lunch”, where a Sunday is set aside, speaking to those who want to participate, for the community to sign up to either host or be hosted for lunch following the service. Names are collected and paired by the church staff, thus who you are gatheringContinue reading “Lunch, Conversation and Crisis: Learning What it Means to Tell Our Stories in Hope”

*spoiler warning for Last Breathe In 2018, a British documentary titled Last Breathe, directed by Richard da Costa and Alex Parkinson, detailed the story of diver Chris Lemons, one of a series of workers occupying what has been stated as “one of the most dangerous occupations in the world”, saturation diving with the task ofContinue reading “Last Breathe, NDE’s, And Different Approaches To The Experience of Death”

James Monaco’s (fourth edition) How To Read a Film is a monumental and necessary read for anyone interested in understanding the art of film. It does get fairly technical, and the later chapters lean heavily into the functional details of the form, but it is framed by some incredible theory and often profound thematic insights,Continue reading “How To Read a Film: Learning How To See This World Anew”

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”