Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Many more May reads

Starting with the most recent news, here's some great reporting on an awful story from Sarah Pulliam Bailey, with some commentary pre-removal from Dreher. The rot in the American Church is being exposed:
Sarah Pulliam Bailey, WaPo, Southern Baptist leader encouraged a woman not to report alleged rape to police and told her to forgive assailant, she says
Rod Dreher, The American Conservative, Paige Patterson's Feast
Sarah Pulliam Bailey, WaPo, Prominent Southern Baptist leader removed as seminary president following controversial remarks about abused women

 Touching on the same rot, here's a profile of Robert Jeffress, and a sadly accurate-seeming assessment from Jake that scorns the tribalism on both political sides of the American Church:
Ruth Graham, Slate, The Pundit Pastor
Jake Meador, MereO, Can There Be Mercy in Trump's America?

Two reviews of books examining who uses the term "Christian" and how flexible Christian orthodoxy really is. The latter makes the case that people leaving the Church due to a perceived rigidity should learn more about their options for staying in the faith:
Micah Watson, CT, You Keep Using That Word, 'Christian'
Gracy Olmstead, The American Conservative, Where Should Christianity Draw a Line in the Sand?

 Indeed, with the SBC and Jeffress stories in mind, this is a good time to remember that many need to see a vision of Christianity that isn't associated with typical white Evangelicalism. First, Alissa reviews the new Wim Wenders film on Pope Francis, which views him far more sympathetically than Ross Douthat and company (although their concerns are certainly more than valid). Then, a bunch of positive reactions to the homily at the royal wedding this week – Wes Hill's is characteristically the best, but seeing other, more liberal outlets react with surprising approval is encouraging (what was the last Slate piece that ended with an appeal to go to church?!)
Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, The new Pope Francis documentary is a lucid portrait of a quiet radical
Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, Bishop Michael Curry just stole the show with his sermon at the Royal Wedding
Randall Balmer, WaPo, ‘Love is the only way’: How a black preacher’s royal wedding address showed the power of a good sermon
Wesley Hill, First Things, A Homily to Remember

 Here's some more theology: a piece each for Ascension Day and Pentecost; a 5-year old op-ed on the theology of embodiment and the LGBTQ movement; a pro-life (!) piece in Vox expressing both Catholic and humanist views against euthanasia; a fantastic DB Hart piece on Christianity's radical creation of inherent dignity, as well as a new review of his New Testament translation:
Wendy Alsup, CT, Carrying On After Jesus Is 'Gone'
Scot McKnight, CT, How the Holy Spirit Sets Us Up for Holiness
Andy Crouch, CT, Sex Without Bodies
Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, What we lose when we gain the right to die
David Bentley Hart, Church Life Journal, Human Dignity Was a Rarity Before Christianity
Lucas Kwong, Public Books, The Polyphonic Gospel

And some Church history, specifically looking at the women of the early Church and women mentioned in the New Testament:
Catherine Kroeger, Christian History Institute, The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church
Michael Peppard, Commonweal, Household Names

 One way to begin dealing with the failings in the American Church is to look for ways to support the vulnerable people it has recently neglected, such as women involved in ministry or single people: 

Several significant pieces on the intersections of family and society: a great Atlantic cover story on the way aristocracy has masqueraded as meritocracy; Helen Andrews on the original rise of meritocracy and the arguments against it; a look at how family structure impacts racial inequality (that insufficiently ties its arguments together); the challenges of motherhood in the workplace; the demographic decline of mothers as a share of the American population; a good review of numerous recent books examining the choice to become a mother.
Matthew Stewart, The Atlantic, The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy
Helen Andrews, The Hedgehog Review, The New Ruling Class
Glenn C Loury, Institute for Family Studies, Race, Inequality, and Family Structure
Katherine Goldstein, NYT, The Hidden Reality of Anti-Mom Bias at Work
Lyman Stone, The Atlantic, The Decline of American Motherhood
Megan Marz, The Point, To Be or Not to Be

Jordan Peterson is unfortunately somewhat important to a large-ish number of people; I am content to read profiles and reviews like these in lieu of actually devoting serious time to his work:
Nellie Bowles, NYT Mag, Jordan Peterson, Custodian of the Patriarchy
Christine Emba, WaPo, The profound sadness of the Jordan Peterson phenomenon
Thomas Brewer, TableTalk Magazine, Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson

Also on the review side of things: another take on Dreher, Deneen, and a new book on Aristotle, America, and how the middle class and virtue ethics do (and don't) intersect. With the latter, I was left with the question of whether there is an ultimate limit to the appropriate scale of wealth; in other words, while someone might be "middle class" relative to America as a whole, is it possible that this is itself too rich to live a virtuous life?:
Christine Emba, WaPo, A survival guide for our 'post-Christian' nation
Peter Blair, The American Interest, The One Theory to Rule Them All
Harvey Mansfield, Weekly Standard, Stuck in the Middle with Virtue

 Our President: a review of the numerous facets of the Mueller investigation, and a reminder of the underlying reality of the multifarious "scandals" raised by this administration:
Natasha Bertrand, The Atlantic, The Lingering Mysteries of a Trump-Russia Conspiracy
Adam Serwer, The Atlantic, There Is Only One Trump Scandal

 Coverage of the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, and a well-nuanced piece examining the various angles of the current Palestinian protests in Gaza:
Emma Green, The Atlantic, Celebration in Jerusalem, Bloodshed in Gaza
Yair Rosenberg, Tablet, 13 Inconvenient Truths About What Has Been Happening in Gaza

 Some more philosophical work: how secularization has compartmentalized and diminished our understanding of "health"; Joseph Pieper and how our work should grow us in the virtue needed to keep leisure from becoming mere consumerism; on our eternal longings and search to reënchant the world; how young people, some religious and some not, seek out new ways of gathering; Facebook's erosion of community (hey, no dedicated tech section this week!); the New Atheist lie that we can fully transcend cultural biases and attain a truly neutral viewpoint.
Daniel Hindman, MereO, Health and the Power of the State
Gracy Olmstead, Intercollegiate Review, Redefining Leisure
LM Sacasas, The Frailest Thing, Are We Really Disenchanted?
Stephanie Paulsell, Christian Century, How Millennials Gather
Antonio García Martínez, Wired, How Facebook Binds – and Shatters – Communities

 White guys writing about older white guy writers (each of these pieces is really good, though, says this white guy writing about white guy writing):
Brian A Smith, Law and Liberty, Soulcraft, Indirectly: Reading Walker Percy's Lost in the Cosmos
Ralph C Wood, The American Conservative, Walker Percy's Funny and Frightening Prophecy
Matt Stewart, Front Porch Republic, Stop Talking about Wendell Berry on Twitter
Frank Brownlow, Chronicles, Thank You, Auden!
Philip Bunn, Intercollegiate Review, Kurt Vonnegut and the Terrible Disease of Loneliness

 Three CxPC pieces on food:
Kendall Vanderslice, Christ & Pop Culture, Dining Our Way to Neighborly Love
CJ Quartlbaum, Christ & Pop Culture, Grieving the Gentrification of Food
Sophie DeMuth, Christ & Pop Culture, Whole30 and the Counter-Cultural Nature of Self-Discipline

A conservative piece and a lefty piece on the academic humanities; neither one makes me want to enter the academy as a profession, nope, no thanks:
Neema Parvini, Quillette, The Stifling Uniformity of Literary Theory
Melissa Dinsman, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Digital in the Humanities: An Interview with Marisa Parham

 Some TV and film stuff (even though BKLN99 is no longer canceled). Ethan Hawke seems like the exact actor-equivalent of a Linklater film, which is not a bad thing:
Alyssa Rosenberg, WaPo, Goodbye, 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine.' And thank you.
Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, Why Christopher Nolan "unrestored" 2001: A Space Odyssey
Lara Zarum, Village Voice, Ethan Hawke Goes to Church

Miscellaneous: hurricane season is bad; Johann Hari is bad; Creation is good; beautiful religious art is good; art that makes us encounter the bad things of the Fall is also good.

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Monday, May 14, 2018

The First Half of May: Reads

Two pieces on the beginning of life:
Michael Chabon, GQ, Are Kids the Enemy of Writing?
Laura Turner, Catapult, Missing Hope: A Trio of Miscarriages, and What Happened After

Two pieces on the end of life:
Robin McKie, The Guardian, No death and an enhanced life: is the future transhuman?
Rowan Williams, New Statesman, How dying offers us a chance to live the fullest life

Transhumanism is only the ad absurdum conclusion of recent trends in tech; our phones are tacitly trying to eliminate some of the things that make us most human (Furness). We view extravagance and luxury as normal (Clymer – though his piece lacks this critical lens); our habits are harvested for profit. Even religion is in the process of being digitized (Samuel). Perhaps it's time to take a step back technologically (Jacobs).
Dyllan Furness, Digital Trends, Technology makes our lives easier, but is it at the cost of our humanity?
Benjamin Clymer, Hodinkee Magazine, Apple, Influence, and Ive
Nicholas Carr, Rough Type, You are your phone
Sigal Samuel, The Atlantic, This Design Lab is Making Rituals for Secular People
Alan Jacobs, The Atlantic, I Went Back to a Dumbphone

However, it's not merely the technology's fault; there is a whole history behind the narcissism of the modern self (Beckerman's piece gives a good overview, although Christopher Lasch and Charles Taylor are conspicuously absent). Indeed, the bigger change than mere regulation is a reshaping of our moral imaginations (Foroohar) and a willingness to not give in to the wicked impulses the online world encourages (Holmes). These demons may only come out by prayer, and we may need to gouge out an eye if the offense is great enough (McClay).
Gal Beckerman, New Republic, Don't Blame Phones for Narcissism
Rana Foroohar, Financial Times, Regulating big tech is just the start
Jasmine L Holmes, Be the Change You Wish to See on the Internet
B D McClay, Commonweal, "Log Off" or Pray

Our technology does shape us, but we shape it as well, forming a feedback loop (Doan) – one that reveals our darkest desires (Saler). It has not been long since the Internet has become a shaping force in our lives, but it feels as though we are now a radically different generation because of it (Smith).
Jeremy Doan, Christ & Pop Culture, Smartphones, Guns, and Black Mirror: The Shaping of Our Technology
Michael Saler, The Weekly Standard, A 'Mirror' to Our Souls
Zadie Smith, New York Review of Books, Generation Why?

Changing gears to race issues: As Nikole Hannah-Jones frequently says, American schools are still segregated because white people want them to be (Branigin). This is nothing new, just the most recent manifestation of a racialized society set up to keep black people from acquiring wealth (Roller). For people old enough to remember a more hopeful time, in which there was at least a greater perception of momentum, the revelation of our true racial attitudes turns even the happiest song sad (Jacob). From the outside of struggles with systemic injustice, it's easy to dehumanize those struggling against flawed power structures, either by expecting them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or by assuming they have no agency whatsoever in the face of their challenges (Miller).
Anne Branigin, The Root, Watch: Roomful of Rich, White NYC Parents Get Big Mad at Plan to Diversify Neighborhood’s Schools
Emma Roller, Splinter News, How the U.S. Government Locked Black Americans Out of Attaining the American Dream
Alan Jacobs, Snakes & Ladders, Everyday People

Coates has a really interesting piece on Kanye's recent Twitter antics (which I'm personally not quite ready to say aren't performance art; whether joking or genuine, they carry little weight for me). I only wish this piece were framed differently, focusing on the crushing burden of fame and its power to disconnect us from the human connections – our families and friends, our heritage and history – which provide accountability and a sense of reality and responsibility for those whose fame is growing. In his recounting of his own struggles with fame, Coates brings to mind Andy Crouch's essay on celebrity; these are the strongest parts of the essay and despite the truly cutting accusations of racial denialism (which certainly have merit!), I think they should have been the focus: 
Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, I'm Not Black, I'm Kanye

Two really good pieces on the pilgrimage of black Christians leaving white churches: 
Jemar Tisby, The Witness, A Wilderness Wandering After the "Quiet Exodus"
Esau McCaulley, The Witness, After Lemonade: The Future of Black Christians in the Diaspora

In between the crises of race and sex, here are some articles about the President. Liz points out that when people in a democracy feel as though they aren't represented, it drives national anxiety; such is our case, as our politicians care more about cash than citizens. Reviewing two books on Trump supporters, Kennedy observes that academic liberals have a hard time disengaging their judgement against flyover country (her piece is a little too "both sides-y" for me, though). As Flanagan observes, this President is the first to embody the general ethic of pornography in his history of both business and women; perhaps some judgement is in order:
Elizabeth Bruenig, WaPo, Our democracy has much bigger problems than Trump
Anne Carlson Kennedy, CT, Taking the Measure of Trump Country
Caitlin Flanagan, The Atlantic, The First Porn President

"Sex robots" were a legitimate conversation topic on the internet this month – what a time to be alive. Douthat's column challenged the Left's nascent reading comprehension skills; apparently, they're so used to thinking of him solely as the conservative at the Times (read: "the enemy") that they've forgotten (or never bothered to consider) the roots of his sexual ethic, and therefore thought he was attempting to advance the cause of sex-bots and prostitution. Uh, no. Thankfully, Ms Burton is a more careful reader, and offers her own look at the history of automated erotica. Dalmia's piece also reads Ross right, to its credit, although its conclusion (that we need to further the sexual revolution) is way off:
Ross Douthat, NYT, The Redistribution of Sex
Tara Isabella Burton, Vox, We’re talking about “sex robots” now. We’ve been here before.
Shikha Dalmia, The Week, Our perilous sexual moment

The Dalmia piece above certainly gets the moment right in its title, and it is no less perilous in the Church right now. Beth Moore's cri de coeur (and Thabiti's poignant confession in response) lays bare the bias against women in evangelicalism. There is a massive unveiling occurring in the American Church, exposing the sexism and corruption that has lurked behind closed doors for generations (Wehner). It seems many in the Church have forgotten that rape is a sin, and not merely against chastity (McClay). This is the natural consequence of barring women from any position of influence, silencing their voices even when true prophetic gifts are present (Scheiss). This is unbiblical and untethered from the historical Christian practice (Olmstead).
Beth Moore, Living Proof Ministries Blog, A Letter to My Brothers
Thabiti Anyabwile, TGC, An Apology to Beth Moore and My Sisters
Peter Wehner, NYT, The Great #MeToo Awakening
B D McClay, Commonweal, Rape Is a Sin
Kaitlyn Scheiss, Christ & Pop Culture, Paige Patterson Counsel Abounds When Women Aren’t Given a Seat at the Theological Table
Gracy Olmstead, WaPo, What early Christians knew that modern Christians don’t: Women make great leaders

Many Christians have suggested the "Billy Graham/Mike Pence Rule" as a panacea for these sexual ills, splitting pundits into a naïve hope in legalism or (via the path of overcorrection) a naïve hope in license. Tish offers a more virtuous middle ground, showing what marriage practices that nurture chastity, fidelity, and trust while still fostering fellowship could look like. Jake, while mostly agreeing, pushes back a bit with the worthwhile observation that marriages that may have less collective virtue than two literal priests may flourish with some stricter boundaries to safeguard against a world set against the idea of marital limits. Samuel James expands this by reminding us that marriage changes our fundamental identity – we are no longer our own, no longer separate but one flesh – and this should be reflected in our friendships. On that note, Rosaria Butterfield's piece on her new book shows how opening our homes is a spiritual warfare strategy; Patricia Snow reminds us to remember that the Church is a field hospital for those injured by the enemy:
Tish Harrison Warren, CT, It's Not Billy Graham Rule or Bust
Jake Meador, MereO, On the Pence Rule
Samuel D James, Letter & Liturgy, Hospitality as Friendship: A Billy Graham Rule Proposal
Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, Desiring God, The Best Weapon Is an Open Door
Patricia Snow, First Things, Heal Our Wounds

On that note, Wes Hill's gorgeous writing so often makes the case for deeper Christian friendship, and here it is specifically married couples whose love he seeks. How much more beautiful a vision this is than the horror of Julie Rodgers' experiences in gay conversion therapy. Wes offers further thoughts (not in direct response) to this mindset of many evangelicals; if we don't have a robust theology of sex, it's easy to just be anti-gay because of prejudice:
Wesley Hill, Comment, Love, Again
Julie Rodgers, NYT, What I Learned From Gay Conversion Therapy
Wesley Hill, Spiritual Friendship, On Evangelical Bigotry

Two last #MeToo-related pieces, on DFW's abuse of Mary Karr. Garber's piece challenges me in a good way, pointing out how easily we allow an abuse victim (in this case, even a brilliant literary mind in her own right!) to become a prop in a "troubled genius narrative." 
Whitney Kimball, Jezebel, Mary Karr Reminds the World That David Foster Wallace Abused and Stalked Her, and Nobody Cared
Megan Garber, The Atlantic, David Foster Wallace and the Dangerous Romance of Male Genius

Local news: 
Theology-related:
Wesley Hill, First Things, Andy Stanley's Modern Marcionism
Thabiti Anyabwile, TGC, Evangelical Gnosticism
John Wilson, First Things, Versions of Paul
Samuel G Freedman, WaPo, One of America’s most influential religious figures has died. He deserves more notice.
Rachel Darnall, Fathom, The Proverbs 31 Husband
Matthew Walther, The Week, What Catholics have sacrificed by allying with Republican evangelicals
Lyman Stone, First Things, Two Kingdom Theology in the Age of Trump

Auden stuff (and also a poem, not by Auden):
Hannah Arendt, LitHub, Hannah Arendt on the Time She Met W H Auden
Rosie Schaap, Poetry Foundation, In Search of the Auden Martini
Christian Wiman, New Yorker, Eating Grapes Downward

I don't know, every time I write up these round-ups, there are the same sections, on tech, race, sex, the Church, politics, etc. WHY NOT A TROPICAL WILDLIFE SECTION FOR ONCE.
Karen Abbott, Topic, Birds of a Feather
Nina-Sophia Miralles, Paris Review, The Strange History of the "King-Pine"
Nadia Drake, The Atlantic, The Jaguar Is Made for the Age of Humans

And a whole bunch of reviews/miscellaneous stuff:
Andrew Spencer, TGC, Disrupted Witness for a Distracted Age
Carol Iannone, Modern Age, Seinfeld: The Politically Incorrect Comedy
Joe Berkowitz, Esquire, If You Think You Hate Puns, You're Wrong
Lolade Fadulu, The Atlantic, The Experiment in Irresponsibility
Lauren Rae Konkol, First Things, A Touching and Feeling Faith
Drew Batcher, TGC, Reading Moby-Dick with Marilynne Robinson
Paul J Griffiths, First Things, Letter to an Aspiring Intellectual
Kyle Williams, Comment, Markets are Made: The Story of Capitalism



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