Last week, Manute Bol died. The tallest and thinnest man in the NBA, he was a shot-blocker on stilts, an amusing presence, really, a trivia answer. He was also, it turns out, a very good man. Bol grew up in southern Sudan, a largely Christian
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God Went Bowling
There's a little song called God Went Bowling by a band called the Swirling Eddies. It was on their 1994 album Zoom Daddy, and it features an oompah beat driven by accordion. Over it all is the snide vocal of Terry Scott Taylor, the songwriter whose mad genius has found…
Culture Essays
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Winston Churchill on George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
America has been blessed many times throughout its history with remarkable leaders. Winston Churchill, who many know as the Prime Minster of Great Britain during WWII, was keenly interested in American history. He was interested in American history partly because his mother was an American,
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MLK: “To Go Forward, We’ve Got To Go Back.”
The greatest works of Martin Luther King, Jr. are the “I have a dream” sermon and the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” These are MLK at his best, when his preparation and his personal struggles lined up providentially with the turbulent events of the civil
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A Terrible Little Stroll with C.S. Lewis
Who, I ask you, wouldn’t enjoy taking a walk around the Oxford countryside with C.S. Lewis? Surely, no matter what you wanted to talk about, that many-sided man, that generous soul and omnivorous reader would be able to engage you in illuminating conversation. Surely. But
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Happy Birthday, Rudyard Kipling
Question: “Do you like Kipling?” Answer: “I don’t know, I’ve never kippled.” Today (December 30) is the birthday of Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the enormously popular writer who was the first English author to win the Nobel Prize in literature (1907) in his early 40s. But
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Gladstone: The Impregnable Rock of Holy Scripture
Today (December 29) is the birthday of William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), who has been called “the most eminent of the eminent Victorians.” Gladstone the politician dominated British history throughout the bulk of the nineteenth century: He became a Member of Parliament in 1832, and remained
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How the Trinity Freed the Slaves (Happy Birthday Granville Sharp)
Today (November 10) is the birthday of Granville Sharp (1735-1813). Sharp is remembered for two major accomplishments. First, you will find his name in every history of the abolition of the slave trade. His involvement began when he met a man named Jonathan Strong, a
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The Peace of Westphalia
Today (October 24) in 1648 the Treaty of Münster was signed. Together with the signing of an earlier treaty, this event is known as the Peace of Westphalia. It brought a resolution to the terrible conflicts we call the “wars of religion,” chiefly the Thirty
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Happy First Day of Creation
Today, October 23, is the day the world was made, a little over six thousand years ago. It was a Saturday night. It happened late in the day, at the time of day we would call nightfall once there was a night to fall. Archbishop
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For The Love of Service
Have you ever had a week that was so taxing that the only thing that keeps you going is the belief that it can only continue for so long? I recently had one of those weeks. I had finally made it to the Saturday following
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The Secret of Marriage (for Paul and Charity)
If the old-fairy-tale ending “They lived happily ever after” is taken to mean “They felt for the next fifty years exactly as they felt the day before they were married,” then it says what probably never was nor ever would be true, and would be
Essay / Culture
Arrogant or Thankful?
A great many people idolize professional athletes. Watching a professional athlete drive a golf ball 300 yards to the pin, dunk a basketball, serve a tennis ball at over 120 miles an hour or pass for a touchdown is impressive. But, why do world-class athletic