Jessica Lahey's new book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed, looks superb. It's a theme I tried to hit hard in my preparing teens for college book. An excerpt of Lahey's book recently appeared in the pages of The Atlantic. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt: The truth—for this parent and so many others—is this: Her child has sacrificed her natural curiosity and love of learning at the altar of achievement, and it’s our fault. Marianna’s parents, her teachers, society at large—we are all implicated in this crime against learning. From her … [Read more...] about When Success Leads to Failure
Practical Ministry
Human Capital – Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site
The 6th Planned Parenthood video has been posted. This one features a former StemExpress employee testifying that high-pressure tactics are used to encourage women to consent to donate their fetuses for research and that fetus parts are sometimes taken even without consent. The Press Release from The Center for Medical Progress: … [Read more...] about Human Capital – Episode 2: Inside the Planned Parenthood Supply Site
Debunking the “Pro-Life” Planned Parenthood Defense
Have you heard the "pro-life" argument for Planned Parenthood? It's being promoted everywhere by center-left journalists from Dana Milbank, to Ruth Marcus, to Damon Linker, to Will Saletan. Writing for the New York Times, Ross Douthat sums up this view: "..even though Planned Parenthood performs hundreds of thousands of abortions each year (while lobbying constantly against any restriction on the practice), to oppose channeling public dollars to its family planning operations is to be objectively pro-abortion, because these operations prevent many more abortions still." Douthat then debunks … [Read more...] about Debunking the “Pro-Life” Planned Parenthood Defense
Onward by Russell Moore
I enjoyed reading an advanced copy of Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel by Russell Moore. The book begins with a few chapters summarizing the increasing secularization in the United States (and even in the Bible belt itself), as evangelicals have shifted "from moral majority to prophetic minority." Moore then explains how the already, not-yet nature of the kingdom of God means that our priority, as individual Christians and as churches, should be the reconciliation of sinners to God not the subjugation of those who (sometimes vehemently) disagree with us. The next chapter … [Read more...] about Onward by Russell Moore
Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways From Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey
Ed Stetzer offers an insightful break down of the latest Pew Religious Landscape Report (summarized here). The short version is this: Nominal Christianity is on the decline (with the majority of those raised in Mainline denominations defecting to an "unaffiliated" status), but within the larger category of "Christian," there is a shift towards evangelical faith. Here are a few nuggets: … [Read more...] about Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways From Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey
What’s the Point of a Professor?
Mark Bauerlein is a professor at Emory University and the author of an outstanding book entitled The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30 (see commentary here). In a recent NYT article, Bauerlein laments wants happened to the role of the professor when students are more instead in a credential than an education (and more anxious about grading than eager for learning): When college is more about career than ideas, when paycheck matters more than wisdom, the role of professors changes. We may be … [Read more...] about What’s the Point of a Professor?