Every day on the way to preschool, my three year-old daughter Molly asks to listen to the first track on Derek Webb’s album, The Ringing Bell, which opens with the sound of a baby’s heartbeat in the womb. My daughter puts her ear against her doll’s chest and pretends to listen to the beating of her [...]

In Thornton Wilder’s play The Angel That Troubled the Waters, a soul-sick physician comes to a pool where, in certain seasons, the water is stirred up by an angel of the Lord. The first invalid to jump in the water is healed. But when the physician approaches, the angel tells him to draw back. The [...]

There are two Paradise Lost movies slated for release in 2012, one of which has been in the works for more than 40 years. Does the e-book era point to a dim future for marginalia?: “When Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa in 1977, a copy of Shakespeare was circulated among the inmates. Mandela [...]

(Fair warning: The blog post below is not directly related to books or writing.) The House of Representatives wants to get rid of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and I’m not okay with that. Eliminating the CPB would almost certainly doom quite a few PBS and NPR stations, and it’s hard for me to believe that [...]

Just heard the great new track from Burlap to Cashmere. I’m a big fan of BtC and of Stephen Delopoulos’s solo stuff. They’re channeling Simon & Garfunkel here: Via Dan Haseltine’s new blog.

… go out to Dave Johnson – Besides the Bible contributor, co-blogger, and my best friend for nigh on 16 years. Dave, may your next year be blessed. To everyone else: may you be blessed with a friend as good, loyal, and true.

The last few days have been pleasant ones for me. For the first time since early December I am caught up with writing deadlines. Fifteen deadlines in 13 weeks is just bad time management, but, as of 9:30 this morning, no one is waiting for anything from me. Until February 10, that is. Since Thursday, [...]

(Author’s Note: My review of The Amish Way first appeared, virtually unchanged, in this week’s edition of the Englewood Review of Books. It is reposted here with permission. This week’s ERB also includes reviews of The Etiquette of Freedom, The Amish Project: A Play, The Impact of Attachment, and two recent guidebooks on guidance and discernment, as [...]

I realized something about myself the other day. It’s not a commentary on our culture or whatever – it’s just something about my own interests and personality. Here is what I realized: I am not likely to get the end of my life and think, “Man, I wish I would have watched more TV.” But [...]

Last week I wrote about an Auburn University professor who is producing a new edition of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn that redacts the word “nigger” from the text and replaces it with the word “slave.” One of the people to comment on my post was my friend Ramón. He is, no kidding, one of the [...]