Atrophy is not attractive. Moviegoers are initially unnerved by Christian Bale’s emaciated physique in The Fighter. To play the cocaine-addled Dicky Ecklund, Bale lost over 60 pounds. Atrophy is not healthy, so when David Brooks says science is filling the hole left by the atrophy of theology, what does this say about the current health…
What is the difference between sight and blepo? In one sense, there is no difference. Both words mean the same thing. However, most readers see through “sight” but only to “blepo.” C.S. Lewis believed the Christian faith is meaningful not only because of what we see in scripture but through scripture. This is why he…
Why is Philadelphia a 21st century city while Fallujah is not? It’s a question scholars have struggled with for years, suggesting answers that are unsatisfactory, writes The Economist. Now an economist at Duke University offers a surprising distinction explaining the divergence between Middle Eastern and Western cities. It might make your faith community reconsider its…
The next round of closures might not be car dealerships. Since 2009, there have been an estimated 2,000 car dealership closures, costing an estimated 100,000 people their jobs. Especially daunting is whether anything can be done with empty showrooms surrounded by sprawling lots. But this might be a prelude to the next round of closures—shrinking…
These past two weeks, Twitter and Facebook have been hailed as advancing freedom and democracy in the Middle East. Does the euphoria indicate we don’t know much about technology?
Christians have their own string theory but it doesn’t make sense. String theory is science’s most recent stab at developing a Theory of Everything. It suggests a universe composed entirely of vibrating filaments (strings) and membranes (branes) working in compatible ways. While largely impenetrable, it’s instructive for the faith community, which has another string theory….
It took the Beatles four years to reach 10,000 hours. It was 47 years ago today, February 7, 1964, that 3,000 screaming fans greeted the Beatles at New York’s Kennedy Airport. The band had just scored their first No. 1 U.S. hit with “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” But it took them four years…
Solar panels are heading into the Valley of Death—again. The White House is having additional solar panels installed this spring. President Carter installed them, Reagan dismantled them, and George W. Bush reinstalled a few. It’s a start/stop story picturing what plagues innovation: ideas failing to get traction. It’s a problem plaguing the faith community as…
A quarter of a million people will gather today in Washington DC to voice their opposition to abortion. This is appropriate as dissent is essential to democracy. It is insufficient for changing minds, however. Protest relies on rigorously using rules of logic—rules that are bent in fallen beings. This is why protest rarely bends attitudes….
“Chill, dudes,” chimed the cheery dinosaur. “We’re too big to fail.” When institutions become “too big to fail,” they inevitably fail. “Too big” is a faulty frame. It guarantees an organization’s ultimate failure, including Wall Street and Main Street institutions—and even the institutions of marriage and the church.