“True solitude is found in the wild places, where one is without human obligation. One’s inner voices become audible… In consequence, one responds more clearly to other lives.” -Wendell Berry
3 Reasons Why a Christian Film Industry is a Really, Really Bad Idea, by Nate Flemming
A small voice crying in the wilderness, making the argument that creating a Christian film industry is absolutely the last thing that we Christians should be trying to do.
Parker Palmer on How to Let Your Life Speak, by Maria Popova
What it takes to learn to listen to the timid wild animal that is the soul.
“Trying to live someone else’s life, or to live by an abstract norm, will invariably fail — and may even do great damage.” -Parker Palmer
Time to Take Hollywood to the Woodshed, by Brian Bird
When even The Hollywood Reporter wonders if this fall’s TV shows have crossed the line, it has legendary Hollywood producer Brian Bird wondering if it isn’t time to take his own industry to the woodshed.
Can a church be too big to fail? by William Vanderbloemen
“True leadership is measured by what happens after you die.” -Myles Munroe
Why has the Imagination been Sidelined in Literature? by Damien G. Walter
Einstein once famously proclaimed that “The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” Yet we find ourselves at the position today where any non STEM subject has seen a de facto obliteration of its status and funding. That’s not a criticism of STEM subjects or their creative potential, but as Einstein was trying to tell us, those subjects are at their strongest when honed by a powerful imagination.
Becoming Matthew McConaughey: INTERSTELLAR Reflections on Fatherhood, by Aaron Niequist
While he was off trying to save the world, Cooper’s kids had to grow up without a father. It didn’t matter that he loved them…because he wasn’t there to show them. Will we make the same choice for a less noble reason?
Jonathan Edwards in a New Light, by Pulitzer Prize Winner Marilynne Robinson
A Pulitzer prize-winning novelist writing of her intellectual debt to Jonathan Edwards in a major intellectual journal it is definitely worth a read:
“I have heard it said a thousand times that people seek out religion in order to escape complexity and uncertainty. I was moved and instructed precisely by the vast theater Edwards’s vision proposes for complexity and uncertainty…”-Marilynne Robinson
Partnership not Persecution: A Modest Proposal for the Future of China and her Christian Intellectuals
The current spiritual awakening on Chinese campuses could provide China with its best hope for a future of peace and prosperity. The moral strength provided by genuine Christian intellectualism could help shape the People’s Republic of China into the greatest nation on earth.
Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling, by Paul J. Zak
We found that character-driven stories consistently cause oxytocin synthesis. Viewers will literally bond with the characters and share their emotions, and after the movie ends, they are likely to continue mimicking the feelings and behaviors of those characters.
Shia LaBeouf’s Journey through Fury to Faith?
How a war movie, Brad Pitt, and writer/director David Ayer helped one of Hollywood’s most talented (and troubled) stars find peace.
“I found God doing Fury. I became a Christian man, and not in a f***ing bullsh*t way—in a very real way.” -Shia LaBeouf
Art as a Mode of Knowing: Four Psychological Aspects, by Maria Popova
“Whoever reflects recognizes that there are empty and lonely spaces between one’s experiences.” -Jerome Bruner, On Knowing: Essays for the Left Hand