Worldview

Live with Hope Amidst Upheaval and Uncertainty Right now, you're living in an era defined by global pandemics, natural disasters, political strife, and ever-shifting morality. Though at times you may feel tempted to question God's presence or goodness, these events actually signal that His promises will soon be fulfilled. In Aftershocks, bestselling author Jeff Kinley reveals how current societal and global trends fit into Bible prophecy and foreshadow the nearness of the end times-and how those prophecies can renew your passion to live wisely as you proclaim Christ to a suffering world. You will learn how recent events point to what the Bible says about the last days; the Bible gives you reason to hope even in uncertain, fearful times; and Christians can respond to crises in ways that demonstrate Jesus's love for humankind. Even in an age of fear and rapid change, you can be confident that nothing is outside of God's plan. Aftershocks will help you understand what's happening in this chaotic world while inspiring/motivating you to live confidently as a witness for Christ.

April 16th. The year is 1963. Birmingham, Alabama has had a spring of non-violent protests known as the Birmingham Campaign, seeking to draw attention to the segregation against blacks by the city government and downtown retailers. The organizers longed to create a non-violent tension so severe that the powers that be would be forced to address the rampant racism head on. Recently arrested was Martin Luther King, Jr.. It is there in that jail cell that he writes this letter; on the margins of a newspaper he pens this defense of non-violence against segregation. His accusers, though many, in this case were not the white racist leaders or retailers he protested against, but 8 black men who saw him as “other” and as too extreme. To them and to the world he defended the notion that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

Church history is important because it shows us how God's faithful dealings with His people in the Bible continue in the ongoing life and work of Christ in our world. If you have ever wished for a short book highlighting church history's most important events that will enlighten your mind and peak your interest, this is the one you've been waiting for. Three prolific church historians collaborate their efforts in Church History 101 to present you with a quick read of church history's high points.

Watching his father perform medical procedures back in India had convinced Paul that medicine was about blood and guts and ulcers. To his amazement, he found that it was really about causes and cures, alleviating pain, and treating ill people with dignity.   The son of missionary parents, Paul Brand did not plan on becoming a doctor. After training as a builder, he was called by God into medicine and spent a lifetime treating leprosy and restoring hope to thousands of sufferers.   Dr. Paul Brand became the first surgeon in the world to use reconstructive surgery to correct the deformities of leprosy in the hands and feet. He strove to eliminate the stigma of the disease and rebuild the lives of those destroyed by it. A humble, brilliant servant, he influenced faith and medical communities around the world, reminding us that all people are created in the image of God. (1914-2003)

There's been huge cultural change in the last few decades. Same-sex marriage would have been unthinkable 20 or 30 years ago. Now it's almost universally accepted in the Western world. Now suddenly the issue of transgender is the next big social, cultural issue that has dominated the headlines. Vaughan Roberts surveys the Christian worldview and seeks to apply these principles to the many complex questions surrounding gender identity. This short book gives an overview and a starting point for constructive discussion as we seek to live in a world with different values, and love, serve and relate to transgender people. Talking Points is a series of short books designed to help Christians think, talk and relate to others with compassion, conviction and wisdom about today's big issues.

Alan Jacobs, professor of English at Wheaton College, has been a regular guest on the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal since 1993, discussing subjects ranging from the problem of literary sentimentalism (as in The Bridges of Madison County), and the delights of historical fiction (as in seafaring narratives of Patrick O’Brian) to the repulsive attraction of the vampire novels of Anne Rice. In his most recent book, A Visit to Vanity Fair: Moral Essays on the Present Age, Jacobs displays a similar range of breadth and depth, as well as significant portions of wit and grace. Included are essays on the mystery of true friendship (Friendship and Its Discontents), the severing of theology and literature (Preachers without Poetry), and the desire to know the future (Dowsing in Scripture).

For so many people, reading isn't just a hobby or a way to pass the time--it's a lifestyle. Our books shape us, define us, enchant us, and even sometimes infuriate us. Our books are a part of who we are as people, and we can't imagine life without them.I'd Rather Be Reading is the perfect literary companion for everyone who feels that way. In this collection of charming and relatable reflections on the reading life, beloved blogger and author Anne Bogel leads readers to remember the book that first hooked them, the place where they first fell in love with reading, and all of the moments afterward that helped make them the reader they are today. Known as a reading tastemaker through her popular podcast What Should I Read Next?, Bogel invites book lovers into a community of like-minded people to discover new ways to approach literature, learn fascinating new things about books and publishing, and reflect on the role reading plays in their lives.The perfect gift for the bibliophile in everyone's life, I'd Rather Be Reading will command an honored place on the overstuffed bookshelves of any book lover.

In Not By Accident: The Improbability of Life Itself, Dean Overman discusses the inadequacy of historic and current scientific understandings of the origin of life.

For decades, readers and scholars have wondered whether there was a Master Plan for the structure of the seven books in C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. In his book Planet Narnia, Michael Ward makes a compelling case that the qualities attributed to the seven planets in the cosmology of antiquity and the Middle Ages are embodied in the seven books about Narnia. In this Conversation with Ken Myers, Ward explains why Lewis thought the pre-Copernican view of the cosmos can still be of spiritual benefit; that view may not be true (in the sense of factual), but its beauty reveals deeper truths.

Guests on Volume 103: Steven D. Smith, on how the law only makes sense in the context of certain metaphysical beliefs, and on why we aren't allowed to talk about such things in public; David Thomson, on the American Dream, acting, loneliness, the moral complicity of movie audiences, and the genius of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho; Adam McHugh, on how American culture distrusts introverts and on why their place in the Church needs to be valued; Glenn C. Arbery, on the Vanderbilt Agrarians, poetry, and the moral imagination and the shaping of virtue; Eric Miller, on Christopher Lasch's intense commitment to understand the logic of American cultural confusion; and Eric Metaxas, on how Dietrich Bonhoeffer's early experiences prepared him for his heroic defiance of the Third Reich.

Guests on Volume 69: John McWhorter, author of Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, on the death of formal speech; Douglas Koopman, on the mis-steps and misunderstandings that hampered the Bush administration's implementation of Faith-Based Initiatives; Daniel Ritchie, on the survival of "Great Books" programs at religious colleges; Vincent Miller, on how the commodification of everything affects our sense of religious faith and practice (and on how we can resist); and Barrett Fisher, on the sources of humor in the two versions of The Ladykillers, and on the history of very serious thinking about what makes something funny.

Guests on Volume 89: Thomas Hibbs, on the theme of the possibility of redemption in film noir and similar film genres; Barrett Fisher, on the films of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman; Fred Turner, on 1960s dreams of countercultural change and the rise of the Whole Earth Catalog; Dan Blazer, on why psychiatric disorders require attention to the story of patients’ lives; Christopher Lane, on the complex characteristics of anxiety and the tendency to treat the absence of ease with drugs; and Jerome C. Wakefield, on how psychiatry began ignoring causes of mental suffering and so defined sadness as a disease.

Guests on Volume 94: Maggie Jackson, on how multitasking exalts efficiency and promises the overcoming of bodily limitations as time is restructured and on the importance of attentiveness in sustaining personal and social order; Mark Bauerlein, on how technologies have rearranged the social lives of teens (and their expectations of education); Tim Clydesdale, on what the first year in college means for teens; Andy Crouch, on the physical basis of cultural life and how "culture making" is done; and Jeremy Begbie, on how music is a way of engaging with the order in Creation and on how writing and hearing music involves a recognition of likenesses in Creation and the exercise of "hyper-hearing."

Guests on Volume 127: Christopher Shannon on the historian's communal role as story-teller; Kevin Vanhoozer on the dramatic purposes of doctrine; Oliver O'Donovan on negotiating our way in the created realities; Rebecca DeYoung on the forgotten vice of vainglory; Thomas Forrest Kelly, on the invention of Western musical notation; and Calvin Stapert on the life and work of Joseph Haydn.