The Rise of the Nuns with Mark Galli

The Rise of the Nuns

Not the “nones” (those who say they have no religion) but old-fashioned nuns. As the subtitle of this Huffington Post article puts it, “More and more young women are being called to the religious life, after 50 straight years of decline. What on earth is going on?” This corresponds with some anecdotal evidence of conferences I’ve witnessed. The ones that seem anxious to reach out to millennials, especially those tempted to become a “none,” pull in 300–500 participants. And then there is The Passion Conferences, where 20,000 to 30,000 young people show up to praise Jesus with confidence and verve. Getting Out Your Message in an Election Year. It may not be through the evening news much longer. While the average person aged 65 and over watches 33 minutes of TV news a day, this falls to just two minutes among people aged 16–24, according the media regulator’s annual news consumption report. At least in Britain, where the study was conducted. People are spending more time watching Netflix and the like. And this may shape how politicians have to shift their strategies: The shift could have major implications for British politics, given services such as Netflix do not provide any news. Political parties have traditionally considered the BBC’s 10pm news bulletin to be their most important outlet for getting their message across to large swaths of the public, which in turn can shape policies being proposed and how they are presented. Read “Young People in UK Abandon TV News ‘Almost Entirely’” for more. The Poetry Key Like most Americans, I’ve had a formal appreciation of poetry but have never spent long hours reading it. I need someone to hold my hand if I’m going to get anything out of many modern poems. To help us better appreciate not only poetry but the startling message of the Bible, Christopher Benson, a fine writer I’ve worked with years ago, analyzes three devotional poems from the book Adam, Eve, and the Riders of the Apocalypse: 39 Contemporary Poets on the Characters of the Bible. The review is not only an invitation to the book but also a lesson in reading poems about Lot, Lot’s wife, and Lot’s daughters. As Benson puts it: Devotional poetry is a vital way to become surprised by the Word again because it awakens the mind’s attention from what Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge calls “the lethargy of custom,” directing it “to the loveliness and the wonders” of God’s self-revelation. Noah in an Uber Speaking of Bible characters, and speaking in lighter tones, here’s another John Crist video: Noah is the first of many Bible characters who take a ride in an Uber. Grace and peace,

Mark Galli Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today