The discovery of the “default network” of the brain—the part of the brain at work when we are not purposefully engaged in other tasks—is one of the most important recent discoveries in neuroscience. Neuroscientists have discovered that solitary, inwardly focused reflection employs a different brain network than outwardly focused attention.
The Intelligence of Emotions: Philosopher Martha Nussbaum on How Storytelling Rewires Us
The stories we tell ourselves about who we are and what we feel shape our emotional and ethical reality, which of course is the great psychological function of literature and the reason why art can function as a form of therapy.
Are Doomsday Approaches to the Loss of Faith Among Millennials Accurate? by RJS
Headlines scream … Ex-Christians, Young Adults Leaving the Faith, A Generation of Dropouts, Quitting Church, the Rise of the Nones. We are on the verge of a crisis with faith and the faithful in retreat. Could we be the last Christian generation or have we exaggerated a catastrophic problem?
Religious ‘nones’ are not only growing, they’re becoming more secular, by Michael Lipka
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are younger, on average, than the general public to begin with, and the youngest adults in the group – that is, those who have entered adulthood in the last several years – are even less religious than “nones” overall.
How should Christians handle a rapidly changing culture? by Michael Gerson
The early centuries of the Christian church, which included periodic persecution, were also a period of explosive growth, due (in part) to the communal compassion that distinguished believers.
David Oyelowo on Why Christians Can’t Abandon Hollywood, by Tyler Huckabee in Relevant
The blockbuster actor with unflinching faith has a fresh vision for Christianity in film
Creative Courage for Young Hearts: Picture Books Celebrating the Lives of Great Artists, Writers, and Scientists, by Maria Popova
Jane Goodall, Julia Child, Pablo Neruda, Marie Curie, E.E. Cummings, Albert Einstein, Ella Fitzgerald, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Frida Kahlo, and more.
How ‘Faith-Based Film’ Became a Dirty Term, by Emma Green in The Atlantic
Hollywood is getting hip to the Christian box-office boost, but the directors of movies like Captive don’t want to be lumped in with the religious flops of the past.
Build Pockets of Stillness Into Your Life, Maria Popova’s ‘Do Lecture’
Reflections on “Brain Pickings” at age 7: How Maria Popova’s ‘little labor of love’ newsletter became a source of such great joy for her and her 7 million readers!
World-Renowned Painter Makoto Fujimura Appointed Director of Fuller Seminary’s Brehm Center
“I hope to be a catalyst for innovation in the future of seminary education, integrating the best of the arts into the church, seeing cities as classrooms for that integration, and helping the church to become the leading practitioner of culture care.” —Mako Fujimura
Why Evangelical Films Fail, by Peter J. Leithart
Evangelicalism is a word religion. I’m a big fan of words, but even talking pictures aren’t fundamentally about words. Evangelical films over-explain, over-talk. They don’t trust the images to do the work.
Why the Academy Needs a Resurrection of the Soul, by Mark Edmundson
Courage, contemplation, compassion: These are the great ideals of the ancient world. And though their lights are dimming, there is still time to revive them, to examine them, and, if one is so moved, to bring them into one’s own life.