The Truth about Aging |
This week, good reading comes in pairs, beginning with this theme.
I initially thought the first article was satire, but upon a second reading, the author may be serious about “Why Older People Should Be Allowed to Change Their Legal Age.” Perhaps I’m mistaken; it may be just very good satire!
The second piece is more discursive, to the point that I don’t really know what the point actually is. It’s titled “Why We Can’t Tell the Truth about Aging,”
but then goes on to quote what many wise people opine about this stage
of life, from Aristotle and Cicero to Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, and
Simone de Beauvoir, among many others. One of my favorites comes from
British journalist Ronald Blythe:
Racial Absurdities
Here is a substantive review (e.g. long) of Thomas Chatterton Williams’, Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race. Faithful
GR readers will remember that I featured an essay by Williams some
months ago, but this review gives context and nuance to his thought.
“Raised in suburban New Jersey by a white mother and black father,
Williams grew up thinking of himself not as half-white or of mixed race
but as “black, period.” And he was very proud of it. He underwent a
philosophical transition in college, and then married a French white
woman, with whom he had a child.
Another aspect of racial absurdity comes from Sheffield University in England, where white students were banned from anti-racist meetings.
As the writer noted, “Apparently, being actively anti-racist means
banning certain racial groups from getting involved in anti-racism.”
What’s Up with Astrology?
Augustine
nailed it when he wrote that our hearts are restless until they find
their rest in God. Every generation shows signs of such restlessness. In
the last few years we’ve been treated to articles such as the recent Boston Globe piece, “‘Looking for a little magic’: Millennials and Gen Z Embrace Witchy, New Age Spiritualism”, though it appears you have to subscribe to read it. To get the gist of the trend, see last summer’s LA Times article on “Must Reads: How Millennials Replace Religion with Astrology and Crystals.”
I’m pairing those trend stories with an explainer video “How Astrology Evolved, From Mesopotamia to Instagram,” which gave me more insight into how followers actually view astrology.
Laughing with God
Since reading Elton Trueblood’s The Humor of Christ
(1964), I’ve noted many other authors who remind us of humor in the
Bible, and by extension, Christian teaching. Most recently is Steve
Wilken’s Does God Have a Funny Side? reviewed here
in CT. Such books and essays by their nature are usually more earnest
than they are funny. And yet nothing convinces like actually showing how
the Bible is, well, absurd, crazy, and funny a lot of the time. Here’s a
Jim Gaffigan audio file that does that pretty well. (Hearer beware: He uses the name Jesus Christ as an expletive in one story, but turns it into both a funny moment and a sound theological observation—IMHO anyway).
Grace and peace,
|
Mark Galli
Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today |
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