Podcasts: Brandon Smith and I released a new episode of Word Matters, with Dr. Tom Schreiner helping us answer the question “Who are the Gentiles in Romans 2?” You can subscribe to the podcast here: iTunes | Android | RSS
Kindle Deal: Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N. T. Wright. $1.99
Book Club: A group of people associated with Gospel-Centered Discipleship are reading This Is Our Time together. This week, they’re covering chapter 1. You can join the conversation here.
Seven of the best articles I came across this week:
1. Patricia Snow – Empathy Is Not Charity. A contrarian take on Shusaku Endo’s “Silence” that challenges our cultural obsession with empathy.
2. Andrew Peterson – A Legacy of Love: My Rich Mullins Story. Rich Mullins died 20 years ago this month. Of all the singer-songwriters out there today, Andrew (to me) comes closest to having Mullins’ mantle. Here’s how their lives intersected.
3. Grayson Pope – A Long Obedience in an Instagram Age. Following Jesus means entering into a lifetime of continual transformation. It means settling in to a long obedience in the same direction. And to teach others how to do it means we have to learn how to get—and keep—their attention.
4. Leigh Jones – Calling All Hands. An update on Hurricane Harvey relief efforts that demonstrates how important churches are (not just government agencies) in days like this.
5. Evan Osnos – The Risk of Nuclear War with North Korea. Lengthy, informative essay that includes quotes from North Korean officials, offering us a glimpse of what and how they think.
6. Andrew Wilson – How to Think in a Post-Truth World. Wilson reviews Alan Jacobs’ new book on how to think. Looking forward to reading this book.
7. HBR – We Look Like Our Names. Researchers presented subjects with a photo and asked them to select the name of the person in the picture from a list of four or five options. Though the laws of chance say that subjects would choose correctly 20% to 25% of the time, they actually had a far higher success rate. The research team’s conclusion: We look like our names.