Check out this week’s collection of interesting reads gathered from around the web:
1. “Brief Interviews with Hideous Fans: The Ethics of Being a David Foster Wallace Fan” by Cameron McAllister
A fantastic reflection on the ethics of being a fan – really of anything, but uniquely in this article of DFW. McAllister explores how fandom can really be about self-worship and how the gospel should alter that practice. A beautiful reflection on loving what’s good in DFW and thinking carefully about how we share our artistic enjoyments.
2. “Treating Depression is Guesswork, Psychiatrists are Beginning to Crack the Code” by Brian Resnick
This piece explores some new brain scanning technology being used in the treatment of depression. The researches note that there multitude of “types” of depression and that in all honesty psychiatrists and psychologists simply don’t know what will work with anyone patient. Brain scanning opens a door to determining what the best help will be for specific individuals. A fascinating look at a budding new approach.
3. “Lessons from the Broken Road” by Jon Cyrus
A pastor shares lessons he learned after his daughter died from a drug overdose. A heartbreaking and yet beautiful reflection.
4. “Christian History: How David Barton is Doing it Wrong” by The Gospel Coalition
Several contributors put together a critique of popular “history” David Barton. Barton has long been accused of poor work. He not only has no training in historical research, but he has often been accused of blatantly misrepresenting his findings (even making unsubstantiated quotes). There are some great Christian historians out there, and we should spend our time reading them instead.
5. “Psychologists Recommend Children be Bored in the Summer” by Olivia Goldhill
“But psychologists and child development experts suggest that over-scheduling children during the summer is unnecessary and could ultimately keep kids from discovering what truly interests them.” A great reminder for stressed parents! Let your kids be bored and learn how to entertain themselves.
6. “How to love your ideological enemy” by Karen Swallow Prior
As always, Karen writes with impeccable wisdom. She is a model of all that she writes here and I am so grateful for her example. I commend this piece to all my readers as a great guide to lovingly navigating difficult conversations.
Pastor Dave Online 