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Weekend A La Carte (September 13)

A La Carte Collection cover image

My thanks goes to New Growth Press for sponsoring the blog this week. Be sure to take a look at their new storybook study that is meant to help young readers see the beauty of Romans.

Today’s Kindle deals include several books that are likely to be of interest to you. Some are newer and some are older.

If you’ve been hoping to catch a discount on an Heirloom ESV Bible, now’s the time since Westminster Books has them discounted up to 70%.

(Yesterday on the blog: A Trusted and Helpful Guide To the Bible)

The Genesis of Transgenderism

Alan Shlemon traces the rise of transgenderism. “How did the statement ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body’ come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful? A few decades ago, such a claim would have warranted psychotherapy. Today, men who say they’re women are taffirmed. Girls who say they’re boys are declared ‘brave.’ There’s even a global event—International Transgender Day of Visibility—every March 31 to celebrate transgender and non-binary people. What led people in our society to shift how they think about those who identify as transgender? What’s the genesis of the transgender movement.”

Where Did Christianity Come From?

Of far greater impact and importance, how can we trace the rise of Christianity?

Violence and Technology

After so many people have seen an act of horrific violence, Alan Noble cautions us about what constant mediation may be doing to us. “For someone like Kirk, who became a larger than life Internet figure, literally someone lampooned by South Park, he would seem unreal in a sense, mediated through a thousantd YouTube videos. A figment of celebrity and the digital gaze of viewers. Not a father (which he was). Not a husband (which he was). But an image to be torn down symbolically. And this is only possible because his humanity had been slowly divorced from his digital image.”

Are Patterns and Rhythms Godly or Helpful?

Stephen considers patterns and rhythms (especially those related to personal devotion) and asks whether they are godly or helpful. “What does God say if we happen not to read the bible one day? Nothing. He says nothing because he doesn’t demand it of us. It’s not the measure of our love for God in and of itself. He doesn’t demand the pattern nor the form. It’s possible our not setting specific time aside that day is symptomatic of our underlying view of God, but it isn’t necessarily.”

What the Locusts Eat

Karen describes some of what the locusts have eaten in her life and how she has chosen to respond.

Room for Nuance Podcast

I was recently a guest on the longform Room for Nuance podcast. You can listen in through your favorite podcasting app.

Flashback: 5 Ways to Ruin a Perfectly Good Dating Relationship

…today I talk to an endless succession of young people who are trapped between dating and courting and some weird hybrid of the two. Dating has become the most difficult thing in the world, probably because they’ve got a million books and web pages telling them how. 

Your money flows most effortlessly toward your heart’s greatest love.

—Tim Keller

  • A La Carte (November 9)

    Christianity under the progressive gaze / Why Christians must reject the conspiratorial mind / Wise people strive to be wiser / The pro-life movement’s midterm reckoning / How evil works / Preaching in paragraphs / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Works and Wonders November 8

    Works & Wonders (November 8)

    This week’s Works & Wonders: the power of God, Nikon’s microscope photos, three Come, Thou Founts, a brain-injured musical genius, and Prepare Him Room live.

  • Weekend A La Carte (November 7)

    The Hutterites’ guide to technology / Searching for jobs, Gen Z feels like it’s staring into ‘the void’ / The gospel according to Peter (Thiel) / Scientism and the allure of control / Can science explain sparkling rivers? / What led to Christianity Today’s crisis?

  • I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I regret to inform you, dear reader, that heaven tourism is back. The genre possibly never went away entirely, but it did at least disappear from the bestseller lists for several years. Sadly, it has returned in Gabe Poirot’s 18 Days in Heaven.

  • A La Carte (November 6)

    Don’t despise the red flags / Your thoughts are shaping your life / Can’t you just love everyone? / Selfies are not the self: forming embodied youth in a disembodied age / Effective altruists and the spreadsheet gospel / 4 Applications for the order of love—from the home to the ends of the earth /…