Elizabeth Newman, on not reducing Christian worship to a private affair disconnected from our socio-political lives (in a passage that would make Peter Leithart leap for joy):

The tendency to limit worship to a Sunday-only activity coincides with the assumption that worship has little to do with our political or economic lives, our lives in the “real world.” Yet as Hauerwas and Wells remind us, “Worship is, or aspires to be, the manifestation of the best ordering of that body, and is thus the most significantly political—the most ‘ethical’—thing that Christians do.” The turn to worship, then, is not a merely pious turn away from the real world for a few hours, but is instead a turn to the real world that is the body of Christ.

Elizabeth Newman:

The problem with consumerism…is not first of all its materialism. Rather, consumerism underwrites a way of life focused on the subject’s satisfying herself through choosing things or experiences. Consumerism is a mode of aestheticism because it promotes the idea that through our choices we are creating our identity, our lifestyle, and the image we wish to project to others.

Kristyn and I watched The Godfather (finally)

my latest masterpiece

Austin

Currently reading: The Big Relief by David Zahl 📚

Currently reading: Waterloo by Karen Olsson 📚

Finished reading: How to Know a Person by David Brooks 📚

Brooks' recent work has really resonated with me, and this one was no different. I love the moral/spiritual trajectory of his work…happy to be along for the ride.

Finished reading: Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill 📚

Read this across the two flights from Austin to San Diego. A postmodern novel written in short paragraphs by the “wife” and essentially about her marriage. An enjoyable read that had me laughing out loud at multiple points on the plane. Even with the non-traditional mode of storytelling, you do gain a compelling window into the psyche of the writer.

Finished reading: Weird City by Joshua Long 📚

Interesting study about how the “Keep Austin Weird” slogan has been both utilized by locals as a means of creative resistance to their threatened sense of place and co-opted by business and government in order to attract talent.