Some books merit a second life. 75 Masterpieces Every Christian Should Know by Terry Glaspey is one of those books. The original edition was published by Baker Books in 2015. Moody Press recently reissued it with even more pictures than the original.The concept of the book is simple. Glaspey picked 75 Great Works of Art and wrote up a description of the item and a biography of the artist. Four or five pages per masterpiece. The genres included are visual artwork, music, literature, and … [Read more...] about Places To Go
Life Advice
Yea, Faith Without a Hope
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hopeFor hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without loveFor love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faithBut the faith and love and the hope are all in the waiting. That is T. S. Eliot in “East Coker.” The trio of faith, hope, and love is straight out of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church. The oddity or intriguing thing about the way Eliot uses that trio is the idea of having one without the others. With no hope … [Read more...] about Yea, Faith Without a Hope
C. S. Lewis and the Reading Life
“If only one had time to read a little more: we either get shallow & broad or narrow and deep.” “A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling.” C.S. Lewis The hobby of reading has a curious feature. All hobbies have books written to explain how to more fully enjoy the hobby. But reading is the only hobby where the act of reading about the hobby is the same as the hobby itself. Hence … [Read more...] about C. S. Lewis and the Reading Life
Lost in Thought
It is always nice to talk about a book which has been getting universal over-the-top praise and which actually merits that praise. If the discussion below does not convince you to read this book, chalk it up to the failure of Your Humble Narrator and not the book. You, Dear Reader, want to read this book. But first, what seems like a digression. “What did you think about the book? What was good about it? Bad about it?” Every time I am teaching a Great Books class or having a discussion with … [Read more...] about Lost in Thought
How to Write The Grapes of Wrath
“It is my observation as an editor that most beginning authors are attracted to the trade of letters, not because they have anything apposite and exigent to say, but simply because it seems easy.”That is the start of H. L. Mencken’s essay “Authorship as a Trade” (reprinted in Prejudices: Fifth Series). I have been teaching for over a quarter of a century now. What has been the hardest thing to teach students? Not even a contest. I have never figured out how to convince students that writing … [Read more...] about How to Write The Grapes of Wrath
Adam Smith Wants You to Enjoy the Holidays
“How to cope without typical holiday traditions this year—and even start some new ones” blares the headline at CBS news. “How Will Your Favorite Holiday Traditions Fare This Year? Tell Us About It” asks NPR. “Rethinking the Holidays: Traditions, Change Are on the Table” asserts US News. “New Holiday Traditions for 2020” is the headline at American Lifestyle, which somehow missed the fact that “new tradition” is rather oxymoronic. Faced with a steady stream of headlines like … [Read more...] about Adam Smith Wants You to Enjoy the Holidays