G. K. Chesterton
Mystery and ministry in Grantchester and beyond
Detectives, like pastors, examine the unknowable to reveal the knowable.
C. S. Lewis and American political rhetoric
As this campaign season reels recklessly, leaving a wake of increasing intolerance, those holding differing opinions can find little common ground. Past seasons of “come, let us reason together” have disappeared; unreasoned assertions from the chronically ignorant now dominate the increasingly purchased airwaves. Little from any side appears balanced or fair. We craft dollar-driven hegemonies of self-satisfied ignorance, cultures of the titillated and thoughtless. Where we once enshrined the ideals of freedom, we now erect a golden calf of contempt atop a tower of babble. Call it the gospel according to the uninformed.
When creed gives way to screed, who speaks into our opinionated age with a staid voice of wisdom?
Pickles: A history
Social microhistories can capture big ideas. I’d like to write one on pickles, which are as fundamental to civilization as anything in Chesterton’s pockets.
Never off the clock
The lead character of Wallander is a cop relentlessly pursuing justice. He knows he should leave work at the office, but he can't.