What did The Screwtape Letters actually say about politics? How should we think about gender and gifting? What does cultural engagement have to do with the Great Commission? Is this the most important election of our lifetime? And how does thinking about the cosmos impact our faith?
Get thoughtful responses to these questions from Trevin Wax, Aaron Earls, Amber Bowen, Kaitlyn Schiess and Chad Meeks in today’s #FaithandCulture Reading.
What Screwtape Actually Said about Politics
Have you seen the fake Screwtape Letters quote about politics circulating through social media? In response, Aaron Earls directs our attention to what C.S. Lewis actually wrote about politics in his famous book.
Lewis said lots of important, insightful things about politics, including in The Screwtape Letters. There’s no need to create fake quotes. And there definitely isn’t any reason to share them. Read More>>
Gender and Gifting Reversed
Amber Bowen challenges us to re-think the way we consider gifting in this article at Kingdom Diversity. She writes,
To solve the problem of gendered gifting, we don’t want to remove gender from the equation and become ‘gender-blind.’ To do so would neutralize a type of diversity God intentionally established in His creation. The answer is not to reject the foundational principles of complementarianism, but to identify and dissolve naturalized norms and categories that are more (sub)culturally driven than biblical. One way to do this is to rethink the way we affirm gifting. Read More>>
3 Ways Cultural Engagement Intersects with the Great Commission
Trevin Wax helps us connect cultural engagement with God’s mission for the church.
Cultural engagement is not a distraction from the Great Commission, but a way of pressing further into it. We submit to the authority of King Jesus, rely on his promised presence, and then go into the world with the good news for all people, everywhere. Cultural engagement, properly understood, aids us in that task. Read More>>
No, This Isn’t the “Most Important Election in Our Lifetime”
“This is the most important election in our lifetime.” If you haven’t said it yourself, you’ve heard someone else say it. But Kaitlyn Schiess encourages to press the brakes on the apocalyptic predictions. She writes,
The truth is that we can’t know if this election is the most important of a generation or a lifetime — only future historians will be able to determine that with any degree of certainty. But the rhetoric of ‘most important election of our lifetime’ (and the almost apocalyptic rhetoric that often accompanies it) is more than non-falsifiable; it’s misguided and dangerous. Read More>>
The Cosmos Is Vaster than the Ancients Imagined
Ancient astronomers who believed in an earth-centered universe weren’t ignorant; they were making the best guess with the evidence available to them. In the same way, we probably don’t understand everything about the cosmos today either. Understanding this truth, claims Chad Meeks, helps us grow in humility. He writes,
As a teenager, I frequently climbed on top of my dad’s shop to look at the stars. When I looked upon a clear, unobstructed night sky, it was as if the starry hosts engulfed me. The lights making their slow dance across the heavens gave a perspective of existence that is hard to find elsewhere. It compelled me to reflect on how big God is and how truly small I am. Read More>>
What are you reading this weekend?
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