Welcome to a new edition of Weekend A La Carte. These weekend editions focus on longer-form content and think pieces. Read on to see what I tracked down this week.
But first, let me express my appreciation to The Good Book Company for sponsoring the blog this week. They wanted to make sure you know about Vaneetha Rendall Risner’s new book, This Was Never the Plan.
Coming up:
- The erosion of deep reading
- Colorado’s “conversion therapy ban” overturned
- Drag queens and blackface
- New music
- and more …
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include Donald Whitney’s Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, R.C. Sproul’s Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, and more.
Recommended Reading
The Erosion of Deep Reading. Joel Halldorf asks, “What if the slowness of books is not a weakness but their virtue—and one that we, in this digital age, are at risk of losing?” He goes on to lament the rise and even the necessity of skimming and advocates for close and careful reading.
How Cable News Divides Along Religious and Generational Lines. Ryan Burge loves to dive deep into numbers and see what he can glean from them. In this case, he looks at a study that determines what news stations are watched by different demographics. Not surprisingly, there are vast differences along religious and generational lines.
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Colorado’s “Conversion Therapy” Ban for Minors. It was big news this week that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s “conversion therapy” ban for minors. David Closson serves as the Director of the Center for Biblical Worldview at Family Research Council and has a thorough explanation of the decision and its importance.
Aquinas, AI, and the Pursuit of Learning. AI continues to be much-discussed, of course, since we are all trying to understand it and come to terms with it. In this article, Alex Stevens considers how we can continue to gain trustworthy knowledge when there is so much AI slop out there. “A Christian perspective should give us confidence in persevering in pursuit of learning, because it is not a fruitless endeavor. AI Slop is not an impenetrable barrier between us and God’s creation; it is noise that can be overcome through diligence and community.”
AI Christian Benchmark. Speaking of AI, TGC is offering a really interesting resource to help Christians better understand how AI responds to Christian prompts. They tested several of the most popular AI apps with a series of prompts and questions and found which seemed to be the most trustworthy. I was not surprised by which one scored the lowest, but was rather surprised by which one scored the highest. You’ll need to add your email to a form on the page to access it, but I think it’s well worth it.
How ‘Tiny Shortcuts’ Are Poisoning Science. This article comes from a publication associated with MIT. It tells how societal trust in science is declining and offers one explanation: that “seemingly harmless data tweaks are undermining the integrity of the entire field.” The article explains where and how these tweaks happen and suggests ways to stop them, thereby helping to restore trust.
What Drag Queens and Blackface Have in Common. Carl Trueman considers what drag queens and blackface have in common, and does so in light of his new book. “The language of desecration is now deeply embedded in much cultural theory. While disenchantment tends to grip the imaginations of those analyzing our modern malaise, there is a more intentional and indeed more religious motive behind many of our current cultural conflicts. Modern man deliberately desecrates the holy and takes delight in doing so.”
New Music
Celtic Worship has released a powerful, slow-moving, and Celtic-inspired rendition of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (complete with bagpipes).
Coming Soon
Here’s a reminder that my new book God’s Great Big Global Church is set to be released next month. Written for younger readers, it invites them to visit 10 kids and their churches all around the world. The hope is that kids will gain enthusiasm for going to church on Sundays as they discover that they and their local fellowship are part of something much bigger: a family of people worshiping God all around the world! The publisher is eager for people to pre-order it since that helps Amazon and other retailers take notice. You can do that here: Amazon or Westminster Books.
Flashback
Follow Without Seeing, Die Without Receiving. “As Christians, we live for a reward we cannot yet have and do not yet hold. We deny ourselves what would seem desirable and pleasurable in this life in favor of promised rewards that are much greater and much better—but that are withheld until the life to come.”
Pastors, parents, worship leaders: Are you teaching any songs that can be sung acapella around a hospital bed in 50 years?
—Kevin DeYoung
