No one can say when the unwinding began—when the coil that held Americans together in its secure and sometimes stifling grip first gave way. Like any great change, the unwinding began at countless times, in countless ways—and at some moment the country, always the same country, crossed a line of history and became irretrievably different.
Currently reading: Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell 📚
Currently reading: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 📚
Currently reading: The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer 📚
Finished reading: Radical Hope: Ethics in the Face of Cultural Devastation by Jonathan Lear 📚
A profound meditation on Plenty Coups, the Crow, and the moral psychology of radical hope when despair seems all but inevitable. Lear is to be commended for creatively and sympathetically approaching his subject, all the while drawing out the broader implications that Plenty Coups' experience might have for us all. I couldn’t resist considering the overlap between Lear’s conception of “radical hope” and the biblical understanding of hope.
welp.
The workaround in our household CC: @frjon @ayjay
Finished reading: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller 📚
This one had my name all over it from the start: post-apocalyptic science fiction that weaves in religious concepts—and written by an author with a firm grasp of theological language. (It has been described as “feudal futurism” for crying out loud!) This edition from The Folio Society contains some arresting illustrations:
Finished reading: Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 📚
A spiritual classic. As with so much related to Bonhoeffer’s life and writing, Discipleship is more subtle and interesting than the oft-quoted lines might suggest. He’s not the first to explore this connection, but I found his treatment illuminating re: the connection between the first disciples following the incarnate Christ during his earthly ministry and our following of Christ now through baptism and incorporation into his body, the visible church-community. I’d like to compare what he says about the visible church-community in Discipleship with what he says in Life Together.