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First Links — 4.22.16

What They Didn’t Teach You in School about Harriet Tubman
Eli Lehrer, National Review

The Medal of St. Benedict: Bracelet Edition
Richard Beck, Experimental Theology

Shakespeare, Cervantes, and the Romance of the Real
R. V. Young, Modern Age

The Baptism of Poland
Andrzej Duda, Rorate Caeli

Trump's Putin Fantasy
Timothy Snyder, New York Review of Books

Why Our Evangelism Doesn't Work
Elliot Milco, Paraphasic

The Imaginary Suicide of Mrs. Darling
Elyse Byrnes, Lingua Barbara

Midnight Special's Supernatural Faith
Tim Markatos, Acculturated

400 Years After Shakespeare’s Death, He’s Still Required Reading (Even For Econ Majors)
Leah Libresco, FiveThirtyEight

High Gospel Christology

Yesterday I wrote about the broad argument in Richard B. Hays book, Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness. It’s a useful book, although oddly positioned. On the one hand, it can work to help biblically literate but non-specialized Christians better to understand . . . . Continue Reading »

Were Not Our Hearts Burning Within Us?

I’m not entirely sure who the intended audience is for Richard B. Hays recent book, Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness. I don’t intend that as a criticism; I’ve already recommended the winsome little volume—and it is short, with the text ending at a little . . . . Continue Reading »

Upcoming Events—4.20.16

Interested in René Girard's thought, the future of religious minorities in the Middle East, or the attempt to reclaim Feminism? Check out this week's Upcoming Events to stay informed on events like these and more! Continue Reading »

Setting the Record Straight on John Stott

Social media is aflame with interest in Barton Swaim's criticism of the heavily revised third edition of John Stott's classic of evangelical theology, Basic Christianity. I'm glad that so many share Swaim's desire that our theological inheritance not be ground into pablum by the relevance mill. But . . . . Continue Reading »

Mapping Europe's Religious Convulsions

Tim Dowley’s Atlas of the European Reformations offers a plentitude of useful, well-organized information. After eight pages of timeline and a short introduction, the next 120 pages generally follow the format of text on the left (often accompanied by pictures of the persons and places described) and a map taking up the entirety of the right-hand page. Dowley divides his text into four sections: the late medieval world, the Protestant reformations, the Catholic reformation, and the wars, exploration, and evangelization projects of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. . . . Continue Reading »

Is There an LGBT “Community”?

Today’s most important acronym expands and contracts like an accordion with seemingly no rhyme or reason. From LGBT, the inclusive train of letters has now swelled to LGBTTQQIAAP2S. The two Ts stand for transgender and transsexual and the double Qs represent both “queer” and “questioning”. . . . . Continue Reading »

“Death Poured Out of His Mouth along with the Gospel”

After years of controversy over the mishandling of sexual predators among the priests of his archdiocese, Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul John Nienstedt resigned last June. Now facing criminal prosecution, the diocese is legally bankrupt. These are among the precipitating events of Zach Czaia’s first book of poems, Saint Paul Lives Here (In Minnesota). . . . Continue Reading »

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