Page 1690 – Christianity Today (2024)

Reginald Shepherd was one of those rare figures whose difficult childhood, which should have thwarted any great accomplishment, spurred him on to exactly that. Born in 1963 and raised mostly in the Bronx by his single mother, Shepherd oscillated between inner-city public schools and, funded by scholarships and government support, private, posh day schools. Ostracized at the former for being smart and at the latter for being “poor and black,” his early experience of the world was one of estrangement. “Even when I found someone whom I thought actually understood me,” Shepherd would later write, “I would always eventually come up against a wall between us.” This sense of being lost in a world in which he did not belong was compounded by his mother’s early death. She was his sole attachment to the physical world beside books, and when she died, Shepherd would later write, “the world ended.” He was fifteen at the time.

Enamored with poetry since the ninth grade after reading T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” Shepherd would eventually complete an undergraduate degree at Bennington College and two MFAs—one at Brown and another at Iowa. He went on to write five collections of poems before he died of cancer in 2008.

His work was first recognized by Carolyn Forché, winning the Association of Writers and Writing Programs’ Award in Poetry in 1993. Dense, complex, playful, and steeped in Western mythology, this first selection of poems, Some Are Drowning, would also win the “Discovery”/The Nation award, announcing Shepherd as a major poetic talent. His next volume of poems was Angel, Interrupted in 1996, followed by Wrong (1999), Otherhood (2003) and Fata Morgana (2007).

In these volumes, Shepherd attempts to transform his overwhelming sense of alienation into temporary reconciliation by creating a “mythology” of himself and his relation to the world. In the opening sequence of poems in Fata Morgana, he is Orpheus to his mother’s Calliope. His stunted interest in astronomy regains a central space in his poems, and moments of loss or suffering—the squalor of the Bronx apartment, missing maternal and paternal affection, nightmares—are redeemed in his work by virtue of their inclusion in something beautiful: the poem itself.

This effort to transform his broken life through art continues in the posthumous collection, Red Clay Weather. Addressing both the reader and himself, he writes in “Along with Whatever Has Not Yet Been Named”: “Take if you will this improbable boy”:

Take if you will this boy made out
of wish and will-not-ever-be, made out
to be something he’s not, breeze
through the trees. Puzzle his riddling
skin, his irrigated desert
body couched in eroding
mountains. Ride out the rustling sibilants
and make a man into an effigy:
of summer skin, the last exemplar.

This transformed “summer skin,” this “effigy,” is the beautiful myth of the poet’s identity and his belonging in a world that is part of himself. Poetry begins “in the midst of things / that split or burn or tear the skin,” Shepherd writes in “Days Like Survival,” transforming “this elegant, unkempt earth / of rust and dust, smashed cat and armadillo / roadkill,” into a Baudelarian “fine scum.”

Water, one of Shepherd’s favorite symbols, is a recurring image in Red Clay Weather. Like poetry, it is both a destructive and constructive force, eroding and shaping the landscape—in Shepherd’s words, “framing” the raw “facts” of the material world. “Air’s violent / poetry,” Shepherd writes in “Seize the Day,” “is saturated with salvation / and heavy rains, silt fills the mouth / instead of words, settling into red clay gullies / erosion scrawls down mobile / slopes.”

And water’s reflection, like art’s, can both awaken us to the beauty of our surroundings and tempt us into Narcissistic self-absorption. As Shepherd writes in “Narcissus Before the Rain,” “The carriers of water bring their own / extinction. He tried to think his way through / himself, there wasn’t any person deep enough.” Water cleanses, shapes, and destroys.

Shepherd’s view of poetry as mythology, like Wallace Stevens’, suffers from a theoretical problem both Stevens and Shepherd recognized. For Stevens, while poetry is the “supreme fiction,” it is also always inorganic, lifeless. This is the lesson of “Anecdote of the Jar,” where the poet places a jar—the primordial artifact—on a hill in Tennessee, providing order to the otherwise “slovenly wilderness,” which rises up to it “no longer wild.” Yet, while the jar takes “dominion” of the wilderness, the rub is that it does not “give of bird or bush, / Like nothing else in Tennessee.”

Shepherd identifies this same problem in his essay “Why I Write”: “I have a strong sense of the fragility of the things we shore up against the ruin which is life: the fragility of natural beauty but also the artistic beauty, which is meant to arrest death but embodies death in that very arrest.” This is the “aporia of art.”

How to avoid this impasse? This is the second preoccupation of Red Clay Weather. One could make the case that art’s ability to “redeem” alienation reflects Christ’s actual redemption of the world. In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, the naïve, innocent Prince Myshkin states famously that beauty will “save the world.” While the phrase is somewhat enigmatic, the beauty to which Myshkin refers is neither the human beauty of Aglaya nor the man-made beauty of art but rather the divine beauty of Christ. Christ endured “infinite suffering” to transform the chaos of our sin in his death and resurrection into ordered righteousness. And unlike beautiful art—which, in Shepherd’s words, always “kills,”—Christ is risen.

In “God-With-Us,” the final poem of Red Clay Weather, Shepherd compares Christ, whose birth is announced by a star, with the mythologies of the Greco-Roman gods, whose own stars populate Shepherd’s poems:

What will I call you
when you are gone?
How will I know your name?
Little star, reflection
on the Sea of Galilee,
a lantern in the wood, half-hid,
half-seen?
reflecting on what can’t be
touched, be known?
***************************
star of milk, star of a
nursing child’s mouth, my
child, my lord, whoever
you may be today, tonight
which will not end, a cup
passed to me, from which I may
or may not drink, half-empty
star, still asleep by now?
And your small body, Emmanuel,
(how small my heart
to fit inside yours)
lies there, pearled, asleep …
How I want to believe.
(a pearl, an irritant).

Of his early attraction to mythology, Shepherd wrote: “Those myths’ world of power and beauty and force corresponded much more to my sense of the world ruled by arbitrary powers answerable to no one than did the ethical prescriptions of Christianity, whose threats were always more believable than its promises, and whose insistence on a world ruled by law and justice and a moral order bore no resemblance to the world I suffered every day.” Yet in this poem that concludes his last book, the cold power of mythology’s gods is contrasted with the humble power of grace. Here we have a God who descends to man, becoming a weak, suckling child, in order to save. This God is indeed different from the cruel, misanthropic Greco-Roman gods of pure force. In this final poem, Shepherd captures the essence of what makes the “star” of Christianity unlike the mythical “stars” of the Greco-Romans. And it is something that both attracts and repels Shepherd. It is “a pearl, an irritant.”

Robert Philen informs us in his introduction to the volume that Shepherd wrote this poem “in late August 2008 from his hospital bed, about two weeks before his death.” It was around this time that Shepherd was also baptized into the Episcopal Church. It is difficult not to lament the poems he might have written following this conversion, if it indeed was a true turning. What insights might the language of faith have opened up for a poet with Shepherd’s sensibilities? Yet, what he left us are hard, gem-like poems of a precocious, God-haunted boy from the Bronx—a beautiful gift, nonetheless.

Micah Mattix is assistant professor in literature at Houston Baptist University and the review editor of The City.

Copyright © 2012 Books & Culture. Click for reprint information.

Alexandria, Egypt, was once a lighthouse for Christianity, emanating from the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Now it is a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood and the even more conservative Salafi Muslims.

So a Christian opening a cultural center for Muslim and Christian artists in Alexandria—within the walls of an Anglican church—demonstrates a stroke of boldness in a city where some 23 Coptic Christians were killed in a church bombing on New Year's Day 2011.

"For many Muslims," says Nader Wanis, founder of the Corners for Creativity cultural center, "it was the first time in their life they [had] entered a church. They were astounded we let them in; then they go and invite others."

Wanis, a poet and songwriter who owns a multimedia company, noticed the historic grounds of St. Mark's Anglican Pro-Cathedral (a parish church used as a cathedral), built in 1839 in the village of El Menshaiya, were beautiful—and underutilized.

"When I found this church four years ago, I decided to devote my life to it," said Wanis. "I felt it was so empty. There were only a few families attending, just praying."

Yet it was the Egyptian revolution ignited in January 2011 that provided both the impulse and the connections to use the church for the good of Alexandria.

"I saw demonstrations and went to the cultural center across the street and asked if we could bring in these 'screaming kids' to discuss what they wanted," said Wanis. "Every week we met together, but once the revolution turned into politics, I dropped out."

As the politics of Egypt became increasingly dominated by Islamism, Wanis's frustration developed into action. The church, he feared, was isolated from society.

"The church has been misunderstood by the Egyptian street," said Wanis. "There are rumors the church has weapons, fornication, and sorcery inside.

"As long as the church stays closed, Muslims can think whatever they want. But the cultural center is a means to open the door and let people in."

Three months ago, Wanis opened the center in cooperation with St. Mark's leaders. He did so in faith, but also with memory: In May 2011, a Salafi mob had attacked churches in the Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo upon hearing rumors that a Muslim woman was inside.

"We didn't know how society would respond, if they would burn the church," said Wanis. "With each event we judge the response but also get to know more people."

So far the response is impressive. Wanis's team leaders, all Muslims, guide more than 200 weekly participants in classes that include singing, photography, acting, drawing, writing, and the fine arts. Over 90 percent of the participants are Muslims, mostly invited by the leaders who are active in the community. Wanis has also taken steps to forge a for-credit relationship with the fine arts faculty of Alexandria University.

Wanis's gradual work, however, has not yet intersected with the Alexandrian authorities, due to the current reality in Egypt, which has yet to stabilize even with the June election of Mohamed Morsi, a former official with the Muslim Brotherhood.

"We don't know who the local government is yet," says Wanis. "Since the revolution, no one is taking responsibility for anything.

"In the past the government let churches do whatever they wanted inside the church, but if they want us to fill out documentation, we'll do it."

As Wanis described his center, a veiled Muslim woman casually entered his office at St. Mark's. An hour early for her class, she exchanged greetings, then sat on the couch with a Christian man to discuss her artwork. It has become normal, though it could have been otherwise if Wanis had followed the common Egyptian Christian pattern of ministering to their own.

"I could have had many Alexandrian Coptic artists if I wanted, but this would have scared the Muslims away," said Wanis. "Next summer I hope to invite Christians also."

Many participants are eager for this.

"I had a dream in which I looked to heaven and wondered who would share [the dream] with me," said Mohamed Abdel Aziz, team leader of the acting class. "Then I found Nader.

"Muslims and Christians are together in every career, but not deeply. It is our dream that they can say a word to the community together, and not in policy. What is needed is community."

For 14-year-old Asim Montasir, a Muslim participant in Abdel Aziz's classes, the chance to build community attracts him.

"The center works to promote peace through theater, and this is why I am here. It is not just for training in acting," he says. "For those who are closed in their own communities, we want to help open them."

His brother, 17-year-old Amr, sees it differently.

"The only problem we have is with the media, which tell Egyptians that Muslims and Christians have difficulties," he says. "We are doing this to show it is not true so that people do not get the wrong idea."

"If we clear media away, Egypt will be great, and this place is the proof," says Ahmed Magdy, coordinator of the fine arts program at the center.

"Some people at the center come from very closed families such as the Brotherhood and Salafis. I ask them how they agreed to be [in a church].

"They say, 'No, these people are just like us … they open their doors and help us, and we are thankful.'"

Magdy also found the nature of the cultural center attractive. The classes are free and open to all without up-front qualifications. Wanis has only three rules.

"Every Muslim leader who comes to the center understands I prevent three things," says Wanis. "Religious debate, political debate, and soccer debate … our job is to unite people, not divide them."

Wanis believes that Christians in Egypt have done just the opposite.

"Christian leaders say we are doing our best, but the country knows nothing about us—have we succeeded in spreading love?" he says. "We need to teach our people to communicate with Muslims.

"We need wisdom to know how to regain trust. Once we do people will start asking, discussing, and surely what is right will prevail."

At least one part of what is right is the flourishing of creative dreams. Abdel Aziz is planning a film festival from scripts devised at the center. Magdy anticipates opening a similar cultural center in Upper Egypt, where misunderstanding and rumors are even greater than in Alexandria. The Muslim team leaders, all volunteers, hope to reach out to underground musicians and increase operations to include a thousand artists.

Wanis hopes within five years to expand the fine arts component of the center into media development, and already has leaders with these skills, though little equipment.

"I would like our center to be a leader in building a parallel, independent, and clear media," he says. "There are many problems in Egypt, and the answer to all of them is education."

Bringing people together is Wanis's chief gift, he says, and Abdel Aziz expresses how Muslims have found a home in the church through the center.

"People now find they need this place. They came for different reasons, but the center has become the central point for their dreams.

"It makes me feel successful and proud. I love them."

Jayson Casper lives in Cairo and is a writer with Arab West Report, blogging regularly at A Sense of Belonging. He has written for CT several times about Christians in Egypt.

A beautiful, educated, British-born fashionista was once the apple of the international media’s eye. Deemed the glamorous “‘rose in the desert“‘ by Vogue, and regarded as the modern-day Princess Diana of the Middle East, First Lady Asma al-Assad (above right) was the glimmer of hope for progression, perhaps even democracy, in the government of Syria. That is before she stood silently by the President’s side as he called for a bloody crackdown of protests in March 2011.

Since her marriage to Bashar al-Assad in 2000, the former banker became an eager advocate for women’s rights and education. The 36-year-old founded an NGO to fund children’s educational and cultural facilities, was a frequent visitor of orphanages, approved the first independent magazine in Syria, and encouraged youth to take on civil responsibility. These ideas were inspired by her upbringing in London. Though her parents are Syrian, Sunni Muslims, she was raised in Western traditions and worked at JP Morgan before her marriage to Assad. Needless to say, Asma is not what comes to mind when you think of a Syrian dictator’s wife.

As the death toll in Syria continues to rise to over 17,000 people as a result of the war between the army and rebels, instead of standing up against the violence as many people thought and waited for her to do, Asma has said nothing. Instead, leaked emails show that she spent over €270,000 to furnish one of the presidential palaces in what is being called “retail therapy.”

If Asma hoped to stay silent, this shopping spree didn’t help. Media critics have renamed her “Marie Antoinette of the Middle East” as the e-mails showed inquiries for Christian Louboutin shoes and the new Harry Potter DVD. Although the authenticity of the emails is still unconfirmed, this did not stop critics and citizens from reacting. Whether the Assad regime holds onto power or falls on its face, it will be nearly impossible for Asma to regain the influence she once held in Syria and beyond.

So what happened to Asma’s drive to make progress in Syria and to stand up for the helpless in the nation?Well, Asma gave us her answer in a rare email to the international media in February:

“[Bashar al-Assad] is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role,” wrote Asma. “The First Lady’s very busy agenda is still focused on supporting the various charities she has long been involved with … [and] she listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence.”

In other words, Asma probably won’t defy the President’s actions, even though her busy charity schedule will enable her to comfort those affected by the violence. These are not the words of a woman who defies the stereotypes of a dictator’s wife and captured the hearts of many. This is the response of a woman who does not see a way to influence her husband’s actions and put an end to the violence.

This united front is honorable and biblical in a marriage. God clearly calls for the man and wife to become one. Many Christians would take it further, saying that a wife is called to submit to her husband’s decision-making authority in all spheres of shared life, based on Paul’s description of marriage in Ephesians 5. But no matter how you interpret this passage, doesn’t a time come when a wife can and should usurp a husband’s authority if he is making sinful choices or decisions that harm others? Does unity in sin or harm qualify for biblical unity at all? Is silence in the midst of sin even biblically permissible?

Before someone throws out Ephesians 5 and dismisses the notion, let’s consider the context of the question. It’s not whether a wife can take over as head of the household, but whether she has the responsibility to voice her wisdom to prevent or stop a decision that will cause damaging consequences unforeseen by her husband.

Obviously, women and men have different perspectives and outlooks on life, so wouldn’t women have insight that is valuable to men? Husbands aren’t perfect, and neither are wives, of course. But even if wives are submitted to the authority of their husbands, a wife is not called to silence or idleness when wrongs are committed. I would argue that silence in an instance where the welfare of another is at stake is negligence of a wife’s role in marriage.

This is not a call for all wives to rise up against their husbands in “wisdom,” but rather to support the role of wives to act when most needed. In the West, we likely won’t deal with the reality of husbands commanding the bloody crackdown of protests, but we might be in marriages in which the husband is making poor financial choices, creating abusive situations, risking the welfare of others for career advancement, or ignoring the needs of others around him. If your family or others are at risk of harm, will marital unity be your excuse for inaction in a time of need?

No one can make Asma stand up for her nation and make a difference. But imagine how much better the lives and families of 17,000 people would be if Asma was not standing by in silence. Women can make a difference in the lives of many by using discernment and making sensible choices within marriages, even while trying to point her husband to what’s right, true, and just.

The way in which to go about taking action can only be determined by each woman, but in this broken world, a lifetime will not pass where the choice between silence and action won’t come up. As we continue to pray for the people of Syria, let’s remember to stand up and act when we’re needed to act on behalf of others. Let’s not use marital unity as an excuse to allow injustices to prevail.

Wheaton College today joined other religious institutions in filing lawsuits over the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services mandate. President Philip Ryken spoke with Christianity Today about the college’s decision.

How did you decide to pursue the lawsuit?

The Wheaton College Board of Trustees has been concerned about the Health and Human Services mandate from the very time that it was first delivered to us, back in September. The Wheaton College board has been keeping abreast of developments throughout the year. I have written on several occasions both to the secretary of Health and Human Services and to the President expressing our concerns on issues of religious liberty as it relates to the mandate. We’ve also been working in concert with other evangelical institutions here at the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities throughout the year on these issues. By May, the Wheaton College Board of Trustees decided that no remedy was yet forthcoming and therefore it was important for us to file a lawsuit. However, we decided we wanted to wait until the Supreme Court made its decision on the health insurance mandate generally, at the end of June, in case there would be some remedy forthcoming through the Supreme Court decision. When that proved not to be the case, we were ready to file a lawsuit.

Is there any danger in at least appearing political with this lawsuit?

Wheaton College is not a partisan institution and the effect of our filing on any political process has played no part at all in any of our board discussions on the issue. The timing of things is driven primarily by the mandate itself. Wheaton College stands to face punitive fines already on January 1, 2013, and I am welcoming incoming freshmen in two weeks. It’s already an issue for us in terms of our health insurance and what we provide for this coming academic year. Although we wanted to wait for the Supreme Court decision out of respect for the legal system, we do not believe that we can wait any longer.

Is there a particular angle you’re taking in this lawsuit that other Christian colleges aren’t taking?

The circumstances of each college or university will be unique, depending on the structure of the health insurance they provide or on specific ethical standards within their community. I probably can’t comment on any specific differences between Wheaton and Geneva, say, or Colorado Christian University. I see a strong similarity in that the issue for us is abortion-inducing drugs, as it is for them. But more broadly, because of our Christian convictions on that issue, we believe there’s a very important religious liberty issue at stake in all of this. I think the other institutions that have filed are also doing it primarily because of their concern to protect the freedom of religion in the United States.

You did a press conference this morning with the leader of a Catholic institution. Is there any danger of watering down theological differences between evangelicals and Catholics, or is it advantageous to work together on this issue?

Our board felt strongly that if the possibility presented itself, we had a strong interest in filing alongside a Roman Catholic institution. This is fully in keeping with Wheaton’s convictions. We’re clear on our Protestant identity and there are many areas of theological disagreement that we have with Roman Catholic colleges and universities. This filing is not a way of suggesting that those differences have in any way been erased. But here’s an issue where we have strong agreement, and that is the value of religious freedom for all people everywhere. We also believe that we have a stake in the success of Catholic institutions winning their religious freedom arguments. Even if [contraception] is not a universal point of conviction for Protestants the way that it is for Roman Catholics, we believe that Catholic institutions should have the freedom to carry out their mission without government coercion. That struggle for liberty is a struggle for our own liberty and, we would argue, a struggle for the liberty of all Americans.

Do you expect pushback or confusion from alumni or the outside community?

I expect very strong support from Wheaton College alumni for this filing. Almost anything that Wheaton does will engender opposition as well as support. It may be that there are alumni who no longer share the convictions of our community covenant about the sanctity of life. I’m not sure what other objections people might have. More generally in our culture people have ignored this issue—partly because they think it’s primarily a Catholic issue, partly because there’s an attitude that’s fairly pervasive in our culture that religious people or people of religious convictions should really get with the program on whatever issue it is. In this case, it’s providing abortion-inducing drugs along with other legitimate areas of concern for women’s health. I think most Americans have not considered seriously the religious liberty issue that’s at stake. So part of our interest in filing alongside a Roman Catholic institution is to help the American public see that this is a fundamental religious liberty issue and not, for example, merely an issue over contraception.

When you say abortion-inducing drugs, what are specific drugs you’re concerned about?

The definition of “contraception” in the HHS mandate includes morning-after and week-after drugs, which Protestants and Roman Catholics both recognize as abortifacient drugs and not merely contraceptive drugs. Furthermore, the Secretary of Health and Human Services in some of her public comments has made it clear that these are drugs that prevent in some cases or in many cases the implantation of a fertilized egg. So even though the government is using a definition of contraception that we think is morally misleading, in terms of the science of what these drugs do, there’s little public disagreement about their effect. The only difference of opinion is about the moral implications of that effect.

Does Wheaton provide contraception to its students? If an unmarried student goes to the health center for contraception, what happens?

Wheaton provides students insurance coverage, including contraception for married students who are covered by our college health plan. Our filing actually is not dealing directly with student healthcare; it’s dealing with faculty and staff healthcare. Many of our students receive insurance through their own family insurance—probably two-thirds of them. But we certainly provide coverage that relates to contraception for married faculty and staff.

Do you know if that includes the abortifacient pills?

It does not include abortifacient drugs. No.

You said you were concerned with students coming in and how to cover them. Can you explain how this applies to employee health plans and student health plans?

The status of student healthcare plans is more confusing—there’s been a lack of clarity coming from the government on what is or is not covered. So for the present, our focus is on faculty and staff healthcare coverage. That’s what our filing relates to.

Are there policies in place for if an unmarried student asks for contraception?

We do not provide contraception through our on-campus healthcare.

It seems like it’s fairly unusual for Wheaton to do something like this. Is it a big step? Does it feel out of your comfort zone?

We are reluctant filers. We’ve been appealing to the government all year to provide an exemption for religious institutions— not merely churches, but other religious institutions. It’s our conviction that institutions like Wheaton College have religious freedoms too that ought to be protected by the United States Constitution. It’s very distressing to have to come to a point of actually filing a lawsuit on these issues. It’s a matter of strong conviction and our board is unanimous that this is the right step to take for Wheaton College. It’s certainly unprecedented for us to file a lawsuit against the government, and we’re doing it only as a last resort.

Did you feel any pressure from evangelicals who felt this was an important battle to join or are you risking backlash from others?

Our decision has not been a matter primarily of conversation with the evangelical community. No one has been lobbying us on this issue. It’s just an issue we are concerned about as a board and also in conversation with other evangelical colleges and universities that have similar concerns.

Why do you think higher education groups are so involved with this?

First, the mandate does not apply to organizations that have fewer than 50 employees, so many smaller Christian ministries will not be affected by this. So that may be one reason—all the colleges and universities are much bigger than that. The other thing is because Christian colleges and universities are connected with Washington concerns on other issues, we’re probably more aware of what’s happening in Washington than many other ministries might be. But I think by the time all is said and done there will be non-educational institutions from the evangelical community that also will be filing suit on this issue if they have not done so already.

Wheaton College will follow other religious institutions by filing a lawsuit against the Obama administration's contraception mandate, president Philip Ryken will announce Wednesday morning. The college's suit in the D.C. District Court will be one of the more high-profile actions by an evangelical institution.

Health and Human Services announced in August 2011 that organizations would be required to provide contraception to their employees as part of the health care law President Obama signed. Religious institutions began filing lawsuits in December after it became clear the administration would not provide an exemption for religious institutions that are not churches.

"This morning, the Board of Trustees filed a lawsuit in the Washington, D.C. District Court opposing the mandate, which, if enacted, would force the College to violate its religious beliefs or pay severe fines," Ryken wrote in an e-mail to Wheaton's faculty and staff. "We are joining with Catholic University of America in order to demonstrate that a deep concern for the sanctity of human life and a strong belief in the importance of religious freedom are areas of commonality that transcend our theological differences."

Ryken said that the list of approved contraceptives includes "abortifacient 'morning after' and 'week after' drugs, presumably referring to contraceptives such as Plan B and Ella.

"I have every hope that Wheaton College will continue to provide excellent health care to all of its employees," he said in the e-mail. "However, we stand to face punitive fines for not complying with the HHS regulations as of January 1, 2013."

(See also Christianity Today‘s interview with Ryken about the suit.)

The mandate goes into effect August 1, though most religious institutions have another year to comply. But for non-church faith-based organizations whose insurance plans on February 10 did include contraceptives, the mandate comes into effect on or after August 1.

"Filing a lawsuit against the government is no small thing," said Shapri LoMaglio, who heads government relations for the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. "The more who file suit makes clear what a watershed moment it is for religious institutions."

A group of interfaith leaders from groups such as Wheaton, World Vision, World Relief, and Evangelicals for Social Action sent an Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance letter of "grave concern" to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on June 11. (Christianity Today's editor-in-chief David Neff also signed the letter.)

The group outlined its concern that the administration narrowly defined a set of religious employers with a different accommodation for non-exempt religious organizations. In other words, a religious employer such as Wheaton College would be under a different set of rules from an evangelical church.

"Any attempt to narrow the scope of what is legally recognized as a religious institution sets a dangerous precedent and undermines the character of the institution going forward because their religious identity is vital to who they are," LoMaglio said. "What these lawsuits show is that religious groups do not view the accommodation as adequate."

Evangelical institutions Colorado Christian University, Louisiana College, and Geneva College have already joined several Catholic institutions in filing lawsuits to challenge the rule. A spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund) told CT it also expects to file more lawsuits soon. So far, academic institutions appear more interested in filing lawsuits than other kinds of religious organizations.

"The universities are extra sensitive because they typically provide some health care to students, and not just adult employees," said Stanley Carlson-Thies, president of the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance. "I have not heard any stirrings indicating the administration wants to solve the problem."

On Wednesday, Ryken joined the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Catholic University of America's president John Garvey in a conference call with reporters, illustrating solidarity between evangelical and Catholic institutions.

The move is unusual for Wheaton, an institution that does not often join the political fray. Before he became president of Wheaton in 2010, Ryken was pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, having little public involvement in politics, law, or government. Other high-profile presidents of Christian colleges and universities, such as Baylor University (Ken Starr), Liberty University (Jerry Falwell, Jr.), and The Kings College (Dinesh D'Souza) have more politically-related backgrounds. Unlike Liberty, for instance, Wheaton rarely invites political candidates to speak in its chapel services.

In many ways, the Catholic Church has played a higher profile role than evangelicals have in fighting the mandate, due to the Church's stance that contraception goes against Catholic doctrine. Earlier this year, many priests read a statement from the pulpit related to the mandate. The Catholic Church also recently launched the "Fortnight for Freedom," a period to highlight religious freedom concerns, including the mandate.

The mandate is one of many moves by the Obama administration that concerns those who monitor religious freedom. Previous debates focused on hiring, while current debates have shifted to health care requirements.

The Supreme Court's June decision upholding the Affordable Care Act has more and more institutions considering legal action. The individual mandate applies to individuals, who have to arrange to have health insurance or else pay a tax. The contraceptives mandate requires employers who are usually tax-exempt to provide a specific service, Carlson-Thies noted.

In January, President Obama announced that religious organizations will not have to provide or directly subsidize the cost of contraception or refer their employees to organizations that provide contraception. Instead, employers' insurance companies will be required to offer contraception coverage to women directly, free of charge.

In March, the administration released a proposal suggesting that third-party administrators could provide contraception coverage for employees of self-insured faith-based groups at no cost.

A 2010 survey from the National Association of Evangelicals and Gallup suggested that about 90 percent of evangelicals believe hormonal and barrier methods of contraception are morally acceptable, though many oppose Plan B or Ella due to when implantation is believed to occur.

The issue at stake for many evangelicals related to the health care mandate, however, has less to do with providing contraception than how religious institutions are defined by the government. While churches are exempt from the mandate, insurers of parachurch organizations still will be required to provide contraception, raising questions about religious exemptions.

Myths, which the dictionary on my computer describes as “widely held but false belief[s] or idea[s],” are everywhere. Let me describe my most recent encounter with one. I had just finished my 9:00 AM lecture on Electromagnetism, an upper-level physics course that I teach every other year. I was erasing the board and chatting with one of the students in the class when the students for the next lecture started to enter the classroom. Two of these students were carrying on a loud discussion that I could not help overhearing. One of them was discussing the death of a friend of a friend, and said this: “You know that our heart stops for a second when we sneeze, right? Well, when [the person who died] sneezed, her heart did not start up again.” Besides being false—I have allergies and sometimes sneeze once every two to five seconds for a minute or two without having my heart stop—the conversation was all the more worthy of some eye-rolling as the students having the conversation were settling down for a biology lecture! This is exactly the sort of myth that Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman—the MythBusters—have made it their business to “bust.”

On MythBusters, an immensely popular television show, Adam and Jamie take aim at common myths, and via delightful experiments (many involving spectacular explosions) decide whether the myth is “busted,” “plausible,” or “confirmed.” The show is now also an interactive museum exhibit. Recently, along with my three-and-a-half-year-old son, I visited the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago to see the MythBusters l exhibit. A part of me was delighted by what I saw, but sadly, a part of me was also quite disappointed.

At its heart, MythBusters embodies the deepest motivation in science, a personal, pressing, and inexplicable need to understand—to answer questions to one’s satisfaction and to know if your ideas about the way nature works are true or not. Jamie and Adam do this with élan. They pick an interesting question, they devise a beautiful and flamboyant experiment to test it, they do the experiment, and come up with a conclusive answer while often blowing up a few things on the way. What would the MythBusters do if they heard the question “Does your heart stop when you sneeze?” I think they’d say “Well, let’s not take anyone’s word for it, let’s test it!” These days, when it is not uncommon to sneer at and dismiss scholarship and analytical thinking as “elitist,” and when science is “debunked” by those without any scientific training whatsoever, I say hurrah for the MythBusters. Let’s all learn to think like them. If only all my students could approach thinking about physics with the same intellectual precision as the MythBusters.

So why was I also sad after I left the museum? Because the exhibit, whose main aim is (I think) to show us the power of clear thinking, succumbed to the need to entertain, and subordinated to this need the deeper need to inform and to demonstrate how one constructs a logical argument. The exhibit focused more on the whiz-bang nature of the demonstrations and did not provide clear explanations of the “why.” I was left with the impression that for many viewers, the explanation for why a myth was deemed to be “busted” was simply “because the MythBusters found it to be so.”

In science, there are no sacred cows. Every theory, no matter how great the scientist who stated it, is true only as long as it survives the test of experiment. I think that this is the central idea underlying MythBusters. May I respectfully submit that perhaps the two greatest myths of our time—nationalism, the unfounded belief that people from specific geographic regions of the world are superior; and religion, untestable hypotheses for The Way Things Are—are long overdue for some myth-busting of their own? And, in the spirit of the show, wouldn’t this provide us with some truly spectacular fireworks?

Venkatesh Gopal is assistant professor of physics at Elmhurst College.

Copyright © 2012 Books & Culture. Click for reprint information.

The statues erected at the heart of a community—in a downtown plaza or at a major intersection, say—so often reveal the heart of its residents, their hopes and longings. In our second viewer-created film (made in response to our monuments video), J. R. Briggs takes us on a tour through the center of Lansdale, a suburb of 16,000 on the north side of Philadelphia. There, two monuments echo the longings of the people at Mars Hill, who honored the unknown God without knowing his true name (Acts 17). As you watch the film, from Joel Limbauan, consider how your own neighbors might be longing for the true God, seeking to see his will be done in your city as it is in heaven.

Back in 1990, at the age of 5, I knew precisely when I needed to use the TV remote to pause the VHS of Batman (1989), directed by Tim Burton. At the moment the boardroom appeared, my mom would cover the television from view, protecting me from seeing Jack Nicholson’s Joker electrocute another man until his head caught fire. I didn’t know what I was missing at the time. I only knew that I wanted to see whatever darkness was being withheld from view.

Frankly, I’m not sure which came first: my love of Batman or my insatiable desire to make sense of life’s darker shades. But what’s certain is that both traits prefigure and explain my appreciation for director Christopher Nolan’s neo-noir oeuvre, to which one more film—The Dark Knight Rises, the last of Nolan’s Batman trilogy—will be added later this week.

Since 1998’s Following, Nolan’s films have been pervasively grim in both tone and content. But I find one particular element of this recurrent gloom most compelling—the sense in which this darkness is characteristically psychological. Nolan’s films focus on persons who are, to varying degree, alienated and, as a result, rendered paranoid by their inhabitance of the alternate world that self-deceit produces. Nolan’s characters are oft imprisoned inside themselves, in need of revelation and community. Desperate for a source of light, these characters often develop an irrational fear of life outside the mind. Their ability to perceive reality begins to deteriorate.

An unseen ‘otherness’

In Nolan’s first feature film, the black-and-white Following, the protagonist gains enjoyment tracking strangers from a distance. But when he becomes entangled with Cobb—a burglar also seemingly motivated by thrill and curiosity about human nature—he’s soon caught up in an underworld rife with deceit. In the end of the film the protagonist, who has been enticed by the desire to steal intimate details from other persons without making himself known, is burned by his own game. “It’s nothing personal,” utters the lover who has spurned him (and who, herself, is ultimately spurned by Cobb, too). Nothing personal, indeed. It’s the film’s essential line (it’s said more than once) and encapsulates the lurking evil that Cobb embodies, a stalking deceit that inspires paranoia in others about others, because it’s an otherness that doesn’t reveal itself.

Memento (2000), Nolan’s first major feature and cult classic, builds on Following‘s non-linear approach (a recurring complement to Nolan’s paranoia/darkness) by inviting the viewer into a puzzle that, on the first viewing, is never quite clear until the final scene. Lenny (Guy Pearce) wrestles with a psychological darkness that stems from finding his wife raped and murdered. That trauma renders him incapable of retaining memories for more than five minutes. Tragically, revenge is now the telos of Lenny’s existence; armed with tattoos and sticky notes, he lives to avenge his wife’s murder. Or does he? Even worse, with his memory issues, Lenny is incapable of forming a meaningful relationship. Has he been deceived? Has he deceived himself? Can he know? Due to the pain he’s been dealt, Lenny has no problem giving himself a menacing purpose—one even more reckless than revenge.

In Insomnia (2002), Detective Dormer (Al Pacino) can’t sleep. Partly because he’s in Alaska’s perpetual daylight investigating the murder of a teen girl, but mostly because he’s haunted by the difficult, morally compromising decisions he’s made during his career. Worse, Dormer accidentally shoots his partner while pursuing the killer, and then proceeds to cover up the incident. Only the killer knows his secret, but Dormer, by the very nature of his secrecy, confusedly inhabits the alternate reality produced by his lies. Is he no different now than the killer, who joins him in that alternate reality? “Murder was easy,” the killer tells Dormer. “That reality doesn’t exist outside our minds.” Yet, Dormer can’t seem to inhabit the alternate reality of deception without the consequence of increased self-delusion and paranoia.

In The Prestige (2006), the nature of deception is perhaps most evident in all of Nolan’s films. It’s about a rivalry that develops between 19th century magicians Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale). Performing illusions by distorting their audience’s senses, Angier and Borden employ increasingly deceiving tactics to triumph over one another. Soon, deceit becomes their manner of living. “Secrets are my life,” Borden tells his increasingly alienated wife. “Stop performing—this isn’t you!” she retorts. But his deceit continues, leading to his wife’s suicide. But Angier also loses himself in deceit: In his lust to defeat his rival, Angier frames Borden for his own murder. Angier is willing to commit suicide and perpetuate his legacy through cloning, and he’s only outdone at the expense of Borden’s identical twin brother. Concealing the truth ceases to be an entertaining trick, and instead becomes the mad magician’s identity with traumatizing effect: ultimately, there is no prestige.

In Inception (2010), in a world with the technology to enter people’s dreams, Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a troubled thief who steals ideas from people’s minds. He’s hoping to complete one last mission so that he can return to the U.S. and reunite with his children. Cobb had fled as a suspect in the murder of his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), when, in fact, she had committed suicide. What led to her suicide is also what causes Cobb unrelenting guilt and grief. Cobb and Mal had created a world in “limbo,” inhabiting a shared dream for what felt like 50 years. But becoming the creators of their own existence was bound to be fraught with problems. Cobb and Mal cannot escape the reality that they are not the all-in-all of their own existence. “It wasn’t so bad at first feeling like gods,” Cobb says. “The problem was knowing that none of it was real.” Manipulating reality is not inconsequential. Even after waking up, Mal is convinced—thanks to an inception from her husband—that she needs to kill herself to “return home.” Inhabiting a false reality eventually leads Mal into madness, paranoia, and suicidal self-deception.

Belief’s necessity and the restraint of conscience

In Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Batman has his own psychological troubles. His parents were murdered when he was a child, and, of course, he developed a fear of bats. But what makes Batman unique in Nolan’s films is that he is self-aware of his troubled mind. In Batman Begins, we see how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, leveraging his fear toward defending the common good against the darkness instead of succumbing to it. Nolan’s Gotham may be more complex than other superhero worlds, but it’s an ethical world with a discernible right and wrong. The ethical element is at the fore of The Dark Knight, and it’s why Heath Ledger’s Joker is so engrossing. He tries to convince everyone—Batman included—that darkness’s chaos is an ontological reality. But Batman shows that ours is a fallen world that still posits the moral imperative as a binding truth—a light that shines on the darkness and illuminates it as darkness.

In the trilogy, two of Nolan’s recurrent themes re-emerge: belief’s necessity and the restraint of conscience. In The Dark Knight, the people of Gotham—when faced with the Joker’s menace—need someone, perhaps a savior, to believe in. Part of Batman’s sacrifice in the third act is his belief that the citizens needed to believe in someone good—in this case, the “white knight,” Harvey Dent. The theme manifests in Memento when Lenny says, “I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe my actions still have meaning.” Or take, for instance, the “leap of faith” coda in Inception. Mal needs to believe—to have faith—if she is to return home. It’s telling, though, that in all three films, the object of belief is a lie. Yet, the fact of belief is, in itself, a potential source of light to our psychological darkness.

So, too, is the restraint of conscience. Of course, Batman leverages fear toward moral purposes, agonizing—however imperfectly—over what is right. But The Dark Knight‘s most relevant scene is when the Joker rigs two full ferries with explosives. The Joker is sure that one boat of people will detonate the other before time runs out and they’re both supposedly set to explode. Ultimately, though, neither set of passengers gives in to the test. Moral conscience wins out. In Insomnia, Dormer—wearied by his secrecy—says “a bad cop can’t sleep because his conscience won’t let him.” And, unlike Mal’s “leap of faith,” Cobb’s is rooted in the “truth” of the guilt he feels for planting the idea in his wife’s mind that would lead to her suicide. Confessing his guilt and trusting in its power to free him is the leap of faith that Cobb decides to take.

Nolan’s meditations on humanity’s darkness push us to ask challenging questions. Is there a kind of ultimate prestige? What will be the nature of the Dark Knight’s rise in the new film? Will we ultimately rise? Is there a person that we can believe in who has risen?

Once we begin to recognize our propensity to deceive ourselves into darkness, we can begin to see signals of how we might transcend it. We must believe in something outside ourselves. Our conscience restrains us, convicting us of the imperative to love others—and of our failure to do so. But perhaps the greatest signal of transcendence in Nolan’s work is his meta-commentary on moviegoing in Inception: We desire catharsis. In a sense, it doesn’t matter whether or not the totem fell—not because reality doesn’t matter, but because the fact that we desire it to fall says something about ourselves. Something’s wrong. And we need a Light to break through.

Nick Olson, who has an MA in English from Liberty University, is a film aficionado who also writes at Filmwell and Christ and Pop Culture.

© 2012 Christianity Today. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Yes, the end of summer is creeping closer and closer, but there’s still time to get a few books read before the season ends.

We urge you to make time to stimulate your brain and keep reading a part of your life. No time? Consider logging off Pinterest or Facebook for a half an hour and all of a sudden, you’ll find yourself getting through at least a few pages a day, maybe even more.

Find a comfortable place to curl up with the right book. Starbucks is eating away at your budget? Consider your couch, maybe not the most exotic location ever, but with the right book, you’ll find yourself in another world.

Okay, fine, you say. Need some ideas for books to consider? What a coincidence. We’ve compiled a list of ideas of what we plan to read and what we recommend, from the serious to the silly.

Amy Julia Becker

What Happened to Sophie Wilder, by Christopher Beha (2009)I’m reading What Happened to Sophie Wilder, by Christopher Beha, a novel about a struggling young writer who re-encounters his first love.

Noticing God, by Richard Peace (2012)I’m also reading Noticing God by Richard Peace, and I’m very grateful for the insight it has offered in practicing the presence of God every day.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman (1997)This book is next on my list, a true story of a culture clash between American doctors and their Hmong patient.

Recommend:

MOMumental, by Jennifer Grant (2012)I thoroughly enjoyed (and needed) Her.meneutics writer Jennifer Grant’s MOMumental, a wonderful series of vignettes about family life that gives me hope for our sanity as our children get older and that gave me reassurance that I’m not the only mother of young children in need of help (or a day at a spa) all the time.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett (2011)I also enjoyed Patchett’s novel about fertility, medicine, love, and family.

Anna Broadway

To Read:

On Becoming a Novelist, by John Gardner (1999)

The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky (1880)I first discovered Dostoevsky in high school, when we had to read Crime and Punishment. Based on the story’s description, I expected to hate it, but to my surprise, it was fast-moving and engrossing. It is still the book I remember better than any other from that year, and could even extrapolate some of the themes. Though Brothers is much longer, it’s already had some amazing passages. Nor is it dull going, despite the long paragraphs in my translation, which is the highly praised new one.

Recommend:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie (2002)For fiction, either one of Dorothy Sayers’s Lord Peter books, which are a very re-readable, sheer delight, or Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which I happened upon at the library a while back. This fascinating tale really transported me—again, into a world I didn’t expect to like—and is possibly the best book about reading or engaging with literature that I’ve ever read.

Gina Dalfonzo

To Read:

God and Charles Dickens, by Gary Colledge (2012); The Jane Austen Guide to Life, by Lori Smith (2012)Rediscovering the often-neglected spiritual aspects of the life and work of two of our greatest writers.

Jennifer Grant

To Read:

Foods of Ethiopia, by Barbara Sheen (2007)There are some amazing “world cuisine” cookbooks that I hungrily grabbed from the children’s department of my library. My favorite is Foods of Ethiopia by Barbara Sheen, and includes recipes and detailed information on the country’s culture. My daughters and I plan to prepare a dinner to celebrate the birthplace of a young friend of ours.

Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, by Kate Braestrup (2010)Braestrup is a minister who has been married twice and widowed once.

Veneer: Living Deeply in a Surface Society, by Timothy Dillard and Jason Locy (2011)This is a book that calls us to disengage with culture and promises to draw readers to a deeper communion with God.

State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett (2011)I love her novels (especially Bel Canto) and bought this one for myself for Mother’s Day.

Recommend:

The Ambassadors by Henry JamesThis book requires focus, something that I’ve not had much of lately. Too often I rush or skim, but I can’t get away with that with The Ambassadors. James demands that we read carefully, but rewards us by creating a world – and especially inner worlds – that are so real, we forget we aren’t living in the minds of the characters.

Marlena Graves

To Read:

Lit: A Memoir (P.S.), by Mary Karr (2010)I love good writing, especially good memoirs. Some of my favorite memoirs are by women: Madeleine L’Engle’s Crosswicks Journals and all of Kathleen Norris’s books. I haven’t read any of Karr’s work. However, I’ve started reading this book already; her craftmanship is jaw-dropping.

Portable Chekov, by Anton Chekhov (1977)I am also slowly reading the Portable Chekhov. He’s an author with whom I should be familiar.

Recommend:

Apprenticeship with Jesus: Learning to Live Like the Master, by Gary Moon (2009) Gary shows us what it means for us to live a “with God life” as an apprentice of Jesus and what salvation as a life looks like.

Abundant Simplicity: Discovering the Unhurried Rhythms of Grace, by Jan Johnson (2011)In a noisy world with many of our lives crammed to the hilt, we grow irritable and exhausted. In this book, Jan Johnson shows us why this is not the Jesus way. Through beautiful reflection she provides practical steps and suggestions for us to declutter our lives—freeing us to follow Jesus and embrace peace.

Laura Leonard

To Read:

A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin (2011)In the summertime I just want a book I can get lost in. Fantasy isn’t usually my “thing” but so many people have recommended these books to me that I have decided to give them a shot. With the added motivation of a critically-acclaimed TV version to look forward to, I feel extra motivated. I am also hoping to get to The Marriage Plot.

Seeking Spiritual Intimacy, by Glenn E. Meyers (2011)A friend recommended to me Seeking Spiritual Intimacy, a book about medieval women who lived simply with Christ at the center of their lives, and I have a copy on my dresser that I’m really looking forward to digging into for my more devotional reading.

Recommend:

Just Kids, by Patti Smith (2010)I absolutely devoured Just Kids by Patti Smith—the writing is so good it made me jealous, and her honest depiction of the starving artist lifestyle that preceded her success inspired me to create!

East of Eden, by John Steinbeck (1952)My eternal recommendation for summer reading: East of Eden. There is no more beautiful, or more deeply Christian, novel in my mind.

Allison J. Althoff

To Read:

Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young (2004)Everywhere I go, it seems like I meet another sister in Christ who shares my captivation with this daily devotional. I’m on my second year of going through this gem, and Young’s extensive spiritual training and communion with the Spirit teach me new things with every turn of the page. Encouragement and inspiration come through daily in this devo that has connected with thousands of readers worldwide, and my mind and Spirit are immediately put at ease at the beginning of every day after reading her entries that are modeled after a conversation with Jesus.

Recommend:

Just Walk Across The Room: Simple Steps Pointing People To Faith, by Bill Hybels (2006)The senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church delivers in this poignant book on modern-day evangelism. By using captivating real-life examples, Hybels eliminates misconceptions of what it means to share faith in today’s post-modern culture: instead of being afraid and intimidated of talking about faith with others, Hybels walks readers through how prayer can lead you to use a smile, friendship, or simple “hello” to build bridges to places you have never dreamed of connecting with both friends and strangers in Christ.

Michelle Van Loon

To Read:

A Cluttered Life: Searching For God, Serenity And My Missing Keys, by Pesi Dinnerstein (2011)My recent trip to Israel was followed by a serious purge of our household’s StuffMart franchise prior to our move. The themes of Jewish spiritual seeker Pesi Dinnerstein’s A Cluttered Life include a reckoning with her own collection (hoard?) of stuff both comforting and stifling and her own soul-shifting journey to Israel.

Recommend:

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, by Francis Chan (2009)This simple, accessible book offers readers a helpful intro to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Sharon Hodde Miller

To Read:

Creating with God: The Holy Confusing Blessedness of Pregnancy, by Sarah Jobe (2011)Although I have heard positive reviews of this book, what really grabbed me was the title. I will be welcoming my first child in mid-August, and as I have navigated the amazing yet crazy journey of pregnancy, God has blessed me with new insights into his nature and character. I look forward to reading about the author’s own experience, and the theological lessons she gleaned along the way.

The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment With the Wisdom of God, by Timothy and Kathy Keller (2011) Shortly after this book was published I received the following email from one of my old pastors: “As expected, best book I’ve ever read on the subject by a long shot. Run, don’t walk, to get Keller’s book.” This summarizes most of the feedback I’ve heard about this book.

Ruth Moon

To Read:

Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace (1996)I couldn’t tell you anything about the plot, but according to my brother it’s the book that best defines the current 20- to 30-something generation, which is high praise.

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography, by Kathleen Norris (1993) A series of essays on a theology of place and the beauty and hardship of life in small-town northern South Dakota.

Recommend:

The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011) This is a thoroughly entertaining read about three college graduates in the mid-1980s. Madeleine, the protagonist, graduates with a degree in English lit and writes her senior thesis on the importance of marriage in Victorian novels as a typical plot climax; the book follows Madeleine’s own experiences with life and love (and a bipolar boyfriend) in a postmodern, post-college world.

Karen Swallow Prior

To Read:

The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)I don’t know how it is that I’m only now discovering the beautiful and insightful writing of British writer Ishiguro. The Remains of the Day captures exquisitely the voice of “the perfect English” butler as he reflects upon his service and the man he serves while considering the nature of calling, dignity, and humanity.

The Whipping Club, by Deborah Henry (2012)This debut novel,centered on an interfaith marriage in 1960s Ireland, has been described a harrowing and gut-wrenching, dealing with child abuse, adoption, and family secrets. No wonder it made O magazine’s list of top summer reads and earned a rave review from Kirkus.

Recommend:

Grumble Hallelujah, by Caryn Dahlstrand Rivadeneira (2011) If you are as turned off as I am by what I call “happy clappy Christianity,” and if you seek to embrace rather than deny the fact that being a Christian does not guarantee a perfect life, then you will find in this book a kindred spirit. The title captures it all: even in our lamentations (hey, there’s a book in the Bible by that name!), we can come to know, honor, and praise God more.

Sarah Pulliam Bailey

To Read:

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, by Jenny Lawson (2012): I have no idea if this will be any good, but I’ve laughed at Lawson’s blog posts and her quirky humor. I’m a firm believer in making time for fun reading to get the creative juices in the brain flowing, especially when it involves poolside reading.

Recommend:

Drop Dead Healthy: One Man’s Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection, by A. J. Jacobs (2012): I will read just about anything Jacobs writes, though I was mostly curious if his book would offer any follow-up thoughts on A Year of Living Biblically. It seems as though his experiment to live out the Bible has become a mere afterthought, like his occasional attempt at prayer before a meal. But if you want just want a good chuckle, fun storytelling, and a few thought provoking ideas about health and our mortal lives, enjoy Drop Dead Healthy for some light reading.

Courtney Reissig

To Read:

Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, by Kenda Creasy Dean

Think, by John Piper

How People Change, by Paul David Tripp and Tim Lane Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins (2009)

Recommend:

Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand

When God Weeps, by Joni Eareckson Tada, Steve Estes (1997)

Rachel Marie Stone

To Read:

Lying-In, by Richard W. and Dorothy C. Wertz; Get Me Out, by Randi Hutter EpsteinI’m currently reading a number of histories of childbirth—my favorite is the more scholarly Lying-In by Richard W. Wertz and Dorothy C. Wertz, but Randi Hutter Epstein’s Get Me Out is better poolside reading—it’s as funny as one could reasonably expect a history involving forceps, ether, knives and chloroform to be.

Recommend:

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939); The Minister’s Wooing, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1859)I’ll have to follow Laura Leonard in recommending Steinbeck, though I’m going to tell you to read The Grapes of Wrath if you haven’t, or if you suffered through it (as I did) in tenth grade. Not only does it have a beautiful depiction of social childbirth (see my bizarre interest above) it’s a history of one family’s time during the Great Depression that makes you care more than you thought possible. If 19th century literature is more your thing, I have to recommend Harriet Beecher Stowe’s The Minister’s Wooing—it’s her sleeper hit, I’m telling you—with romance, theology, suspense and surprise.

Laura Ortberg Turner

When Women Were Birds, by Terry Tempest Williams (2012)Starting a new MFA program this summer means that most of my reading for the next two years will be set for me, so I’m making the most of the next month and a half to get through the ever-growing stack of books on my nightstand. With a title like When Women Were Birds, how could you not be intrigued by Williams’s latest collection of essays? The book deals primarily with the question of what it means to have a voice, a great question for any woman (or man) seeking to listen to God and self.

The Lords of Discipline (1980) / Prince of Tides (1986) / South of Broad (2009), all by Pat ConroyThe covers of his books would put off most sane people, but to miss out on any of Conroy’s novels is nothing less than a tragedy. I have passed countless summer hours reading and re-reading Prince of Tides and South of Broad, and if you are planning on logging some hammock/porch-sitting time this summer, I can’t recommend another author more highly. The Lords of Discipline forever changed the way I thought about friendship and sacrificial love, and Conroy writes with the most gorgeous, thrilling prose of any author of our day.

In this week’s episode of The Phil Vischer Podcast, Phil responds to criticism about his ukelele. The crew discusses “following your dreams,” the difference between our dreams and God’s dreams, and how dreams can easily become idols. They ask, “Is your treasure Christ or is your treasure what you hope to do for Christ?” Skye discusses why so many Christians fear insignificance, and how that affects our idolatry of dreams.

“As a Christian, the thing that we are to be consumed with – the vision of our life, the dream we have – is supposed to be God himself. He is the treasure that we would give up everything else to possess.” (Skye Jethani)

Listen here and subscribe on iTunes.