Each Friday we compile a list of interesting links and articles our editors find from across the web. Here’s what’s catching our eye this week.
One of J. Louis Martyn’s former students reflects on his life:
The originality of his work will surely never cease to gain admirers. His unique voice was unmistakable and could never be mistaken for anyone else’s. It was much more literary than that of most textual scholars. Vivid imagery came naturally to him, and he never seemed to be at a loss for a novel way of expressing his ideas. He said that the Corinthian congregation “grabbed the ball Paul passed to them and ran out of the stadium with it.”
On Being speaks with Jean Vanier about his unique philosophy on tenderness:
It’s the realization of how to create a culture which is no longer a culture just of competition, but a culture of welcoming, where tenderness, where touch is important, and it’s not — neither sexualized nor aggressive. It has become human.
What if prayer isn’t a conversation like we thought it was?
The Bible doesn’t use language of conversation in connection to prayer. Instead, it most often describes prayer as praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession, and petition—unilateral actions.
Even John Calvin himself wrote rejection letters:
Reading this letter, I was struck by two thoughts: first, how nice it would be to receive such personal and solicitous rejection; second, no matter how many things change with the academic job market, the basic dynamics stay the same.
Editor’s Note: Linking to this article does not indicate an endorsement or agreement with the views stated. We wish for this piece to be used as a part of a larger conversation about sexual identity and the church.)
First Things offers a theological perspective on Caitlyn Jenner:
So much of our cultural trajectory converges on Bruce: our rampant Gnosticism, our confidence in technology, our moral libertarianism and determined flight from biblical standards, our cult of fame, our sexual self-contradictions. Bruce Jenner will be forgotten soon enough, but what he represents isn’t going away, because transgressiveness is one of the few cultural imperatives that we are not permitted to transgress.
TOJ contributor D.L. Mayfield writes about gentrification:
In the window of the store I see two men at a conference table, presumably getting everything ready for the grand opening. they are white, young, bearded, with top knots. it is their hair that gets to me, makes me upset. surely i should be glad–the predatory lenders of furniture are gone, the purveyors of fresh food are here–but it all feels too similar. people moving in and taking over and making their living off of the backs of the neighborhood.
The Atlantic shares a new story of race; the story of Kalief Browder:
I wanted to understand how, precisely, it happened that a boy was snatched off the streets of New York, repeatedly beaten, and subjected to the torture of solitary confinement, and yet no one was held accountable. To understand this question is to journey into a world of legal-speak and phraseology all of which, in the case of Browder, allows what we would normally label thuggery to mask itself under the banner of law.
Do psychological disorders qualify for medically assisted euthanasia?
Distelmans was one of the leading proponents of a 2002 law in Belgium that permits euthanasia for patients who have an incurable illness that causes them unbearable physical or mental suffering. Since then, he has euthanized more than a hundred patients. Distelmans, who wears leather coats and boots and artfully tossed scarves, has become a celebrity in Belgium for promoting a dignified death as a human right, a “tremendous liberation,” and he gives talks at cultural centers, hospitals, and schools around the country.
Kim Kardashian West—the artist America needs:
By making herself the subject of her own life—and dare I say, her own art—Kardashian West is part of an established legacy of female artists and writers who have created art from the realm of the intensely personal and confessional. In addition to Frida Kahlo, whose self-as-subject was intensely motivated by her own physical injuries and immobility, the work of Cindy Sherman has long complicated the intersection of the personal and public by depicting herself as different women in various social and professional roles. Whereas in Sherman’s work, there is a tension between the self as immutable and the self as constructed, in Kardashian West’s selfies, the public and personal collapse.
What you have to know about the Cardinals/Astros Scandal:
Just because a car is left with the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition doesn’t mean that you won’t get arrested for stealing it.
But if you leave your keys in the ignition, people are going to be less sympathetic about your car getting stolen. Change your damn password when you leave your employer for a competitor.
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, watch all 6 Star Wars movies at once:
Still, it’s a strangely mesmerizing piece that feels like a kaleidoscope of Star Wars characters, locations and battles bleeding into each other.
The best part is that Jar Jar Binks disappears into the melange, making it easy to simply pretend he was never there at all.