Tag: fiction
Donna Tartt: Beautiful Windows Into the Transcendent
A few years back I developed a passage from Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club arguing that, despite making us feel as if we’re the centre of attention, social media does little...
Reflections on Fatherhood From 'The Road'
After reading a passage from The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, in a sermon, someone came up to me afterwards and said, ‘I couldn’t put that book down.’ But before you...
Doodle: J. K. Rowling, Ideologies, and Make-Believe
Around the turn of the year, J. K. Rowling was once again the object of ire on social media. This most recent backlash came after she took to X—formerly known...
How to Become a Better Reader
Last week Gavin Ortlund released a superb video on how to become better readers, with five strategies for reading more. Crucially he starts by saying, “There’s no real shortcuts to...
Fridays with Fred: Nietzsche, Fyodor and Meteors
Friedrich Nietzsche is often associated with nihilism. This might be because of the assonance between Nietzsche and nihilism. However, that association is also a good indicator that someone hasn’t read...
You'll Never Live a Life Worthy of the Gospel
In Philippians 1:27 Paul exhorts Christians to live in a manner worthy of the gospel. Following that he fills out the picture of such a life. It is marked by...
Doodle: Was J. R. R. Tolkien an Anti-Semite?
Towards the close of The Watchmen, a newspaper editor suggests to his senior that they should run a story about Ronald Reagan running for president in ‘88. The senior replies,...
Stories Are for So Much More Than Escapism
If anyone is willing to sponsor it, I’ll embark on a PhD in literature tomorrow. My question: when did we start treating literature as escapism? This question obviously applies to...
John Ames' Advice Against Defensiveness
Good advice is gold. That is, it’s as rare as it is precious. Unfortunately, the church is often a sanctuary for bad advice. In the same way that fugitives of...
A Guide to Good Writing for Those Who Can't Write Good
One of the characters in Marilynne Robinson’s Home describes preaching as, “parsing the broken heart of humankind and praising the loving heart of Christ.” I’ve often considered this a fitting...
Biblical Narratives: Some Comments on Structure, Themes, and Sermons
Towards the end of last year I wrote an article arguing that most biblical narratives don’t have a main point. I was grateful to those readers who raised questions and...
It Is Such a Secret Place, the Land of Tears
“I did not know how to reach him, where to catch up with him. It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”
Marilynne Robinson's Model Fathers
I’ve made a point of not crying in public. Perhaps my masculinity is too fragile. Maybe I’ve wrongly associated tears with weakness. Either way, this commitment recently made for an...
Doodle: The Best Books from 2022
Last week a friend shared the 26 Best Fiction Books in 2022 with me, published by The Times. Since I’m not a subscriber, this was all I got to read:...
Most Biblical Narratives Don't Have a Main Point
Ifemelu is sitting in a salon, having extensions braided into her hair when another customer notices that she’s is reading. The other customer innocently asks: what’s the book about? Annoyed—mostly...
Is Reading Fiction a Waste of Time?
Despite growing up before the advent of smartphones, streaming services, and YouTube, I read essentially no fiction until my early 20s. Sadly, this wasn’t because I was more invested in,...
Review: Five Books From 2013
In my last year of high school, for final assessment, I was summoned for external moderation on my English portfolio. Back then we had to list five books we had...
The Law, Galatians, And 'The Shawshank Redemption'
Towards the end of last year I preached on Galatians 3:15-29. We had been working through the book in the evening service at Tokai Community Church and in our midweek...
Reflection: God's Grace in Gilead and Reductionism
Last month I found a second hand copy of Marilynne Robinson’s 2004 novel, Gilead. The book is a collection of moving memoirs (for lack of a better word) written by...
The Jokes We Tell
A friend recently returned my copy of Yann Martel’s Beatrice and Virgil. Though it has been almost 2 years since I read it, holding the book in my hands resurrected...
