Category Archives: Books

Share Your Favorite Books (Just for fun Sunday)

Posted on May 30, 2021 by salooper57

When I am in an airport, sitting in the blue vinyl chairs (why are they always blue?), and one person out of the 200 surrounding me is reading a book, I am immediately curious about that person – and their … Continue reading →

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Tolkien, God, and Character Development

Posted on June 2, 2018 by salooper57

Joseph Pearce, in the book Tolkien: Man and Myth tells how, in a 1997 poll, English readers voted J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings, the book of the century. The literati were embarrassed by their fellow-countrymen. In a nation … Continue reading →

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Churches as Contempt-free and Condemnation-free Zones

Posted on January 27, 2018 by salooper57

It is generally acknowledged that our society has become increasingly mean-spirited. Unless today’s politician is chronically incensed and habitually scornful, no one will take him or her seriously. The so-called “liberal elite” are famously contemptuous: that conservatives are morally-challenged dimwits … Continue reading →

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The Number One Rule in Great Story-Writing

Posted on May 13, 2017 by salooper57

A great storyteller can bring a character to life, metaphorically speaking. There’s no one who does it better than the novelist and poet Wendell Berry. His Port William “membership” is replete with memorable characters, and his Burley Coulter is one … Continue reading →

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Shame and Shamelessness in Contemporary Culture

Posted on April 1, 2017 by salooper57

“I feel like a garbage can, full of ugly, nasty things.” That’s how a young woman once described herself to me. She was in her late teens or early twenties, and had been raised with a sexually abusive father until … Continue reading →

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Reading the Bible Through Red, White, and Blue Lenses

Posted on February 25, 2017 by salooper57

There is no reference to America in the Bible, though some prophecy buffs have tried hard to find one. I tried too, when I was a young Christian. Surely, I thought, the United States of America, the most powerful country … Continue reading →

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The Power We So Blithely Invoke

Posted on April 23, 2016 by salooper57

Sometimes God scares me. Not like an angry parent scares a cowering child. It’s not like that at all. Still less like a bully scares a retiring classmate. “Scares” is probably not even the right word. “Awes” would be better, … Continue reading →

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Books I Wish Someone Would Write

Posted on April 16, 2016 by salooper57

I recently saw an article about books that someone should write. Christian leaders had been interviewed about the kind of books they would like to read and, while I admit I found most of their suggestions uninteresting, I found the … Continue reading →

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A humbler approach to the Bible

Posted on February 13, 2016 by salooper57

My doctor referred me to a vascular surgeon for a consult. The surgeon’s assistant led me to an examination room and went over my paperwork, asked a bunch of questions, then told me I’d have to strip down to my … Continue reading →

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Does God live in our zip code?

Posted on January 16, 2016 by salooper57

In her book, Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity, the philosopher Catharine Wilson has asserted that “we are all, in a sense, Epicureans now.” The biblical scholar N. T. Wright quotes Wilson, and calls her assessment “spot on.” When I … Continue reading →

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