Celebrating God’s Goodness

This week Maureen and Sandra offer a double serving of blogging goodness in celebration of Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoy these reasons for having a gratitude-filled holiday!

 

Why C. S. Lewis’ Integration of Reason and Imagination Matters

Today marks the 50th anniversary of C. S. Lewis’ death. In the half a century since his passing, Lewis’ keen ability to join what is assumed incompatible (reason and imagination) remains largely unmatched.

Michael Ward, in his Christianity Today article on Lewis, elaborates on the power of Lewis’ approach:

In Christ, poetry and philosophy have met together. Meaning and truth have kissed. C. S. Lewis understood, like few in the past century, just how deeply faith is both imaginative and rational.

As Ward explains, since the Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries we’ve been told of the supposed dichotomy between reason and imagination.

 

Hope for the Forever Empty

Perhaps you’ve seen the clip, or perhaps you’ve heard conversations ‘round the Internet’s water cooler (Facebook). But here’s the scoop in case you haven’t: A few weeks ago comedian Louis C.K. offered a brilliant, albeit colorful, rant on how smartphones are impacting our culture.

“You need to build the ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That’s what the phones are taking away. The ability to just sit there.”

 

Extra Grace Required in Science-Faith Relationships

We all know people who tend to deplete our reserves of patience and good will. (Perhaps we’ve even been one of these folks.) I’ve taken to identifying such people as “EGRs”: extra grace required. This label, which I adopted from a guest speaker at my church, helps remind me to reign in my irritability and pray for an extra measure of patience when dealing with difficult people. After all, I require extra grace, too.

Interactions within the science-faith arena provide plentiful examples of EGRs.

 

Stress and the Pursuit of (True) Happiness

Here’s the scoop: Our editorial team is working tirelessly to bring you several new resources—a book on the end times, a book on the Genesis creation days, a science-faith devotional for students, plus rereleases (and e-book editions) of a couple of out-of-print RTB titles.

 

Geeking and Reaching Out at Comic-Con

In case you missed it, last week the world’s nerds were drawn to San Diego like metal to Magneto for the city’s international Comic-Con. I, too, made the annual trek to nerd mecca to get my fandom on. While the reveals (read: announcements) from the Warner Brothers and Marvel panels were spaz worthy, there’s certainly more to do at a con than just scream at screens.

The long lines provide ample time for attendees to spark up conversation with fellow fan boys and girls.

 

Man of Steel and the Original Superhero

In case it’s not already on your radar, the highly anticipated reboot Man of Steel releases next week. Most are familiar with who Superman is—understandable considering this cultural icon (and first comic book superhero) has been around for 75 years.

For nonnatives to the comic book world, here’s a quick recap: Young Kal-El is placed in a rocket ship and transported to Earth just before his home planet of Krypton explodes. Taking the name Clark Kent, the child grows to become Superman. With his superpowers, Superman protects the earth and its people.

What might be less familiar to some are the religious analogies drawn from Superman.