Vision
Life as Story
Galen Strawson challenges the fairly popular notion that everyone’s life is a story that we write as we live (“I am not a story,” Aeon, 3 September 2015). In this view, people are purposeful beings who invent a self-image which they pursue within the story of who they consider themselves to be and are striving to become. He concedes this might be true of some people, but not, he insists, all. Mr. Strawson even considers that such an idea can be dangerous, leading people to invent falsehoods, pursue vain hopes, and live delusional lives. Most of us, he believes, are comprised of multiple personae with conflicting aims and uncertain destinies. This is a more realistic view of life, and one which allows for more choices, tolerates more mistakes, and makes room for many stories, not all of them possessing anything like a plot. For the Christian the larger question is, What is the Lord’s story, where are history and the cosmos going, and how can I best fit into that narrative in my own particular place and time? Here our present generation of vision-casters, by turning the focus of the Gospel on people and their needs, are failing the people of God and the mission of the Church, and hindering the progress of the Kingdom.

Disciplines
Philosophy
Stephen Anderson takes on the essential claims of atheism and shows it to be irrational and foolhardy (“Atheism on Trial,” Philosophy Now, July 14, 2015). This is as concise and compelling a dismantling of atheism as you are likely to find. Dr. Anderson demonstrates that for an atheist to insist there is no God he must in fact be God, having been to every place and come to know everything that can be known. But then, that would defeat the argument for atheism. Atheists are obliged to prove a negative, and this simply cannot be done. The claim that there is no God for anyone is denied by reason and evidence, which makes it something of a mystery, as Dr. Anderson notes, why atheism is the preferred worldview of academics, pundits, educators, and promulgators of public policy. You don’t suppose morality might be part of the reason for this?

Preaching
Tim Keller’s book, Preaching: Communicating Faith in Age of Skepticism, should be read by every Christian, and that for four reasons. First, as Dr. Keller explains, all Christians are tasked with proclaiming the Gospel, so we all need to understand both what the Gospel is and how best to proclaim it in a day such as ours. Second, Dr. Keller explains why Christians must strive to be culturally relevant if they want to communicate truly. He offers many fine examples of why this is important as well as helpful suggestions concerning how we can improve in this matter. Third, Dr. Keller shows that the heart of Scripture and the heart of the Gospel are the same – Jesus Christ. Jesus is our life, our hope, our destiny, and our message, the theme of the Bible in whole and part. He offers excellent examples to guide us in learning to read the Bible to see Jesus there. Finally, Dr. Keller reminds us that the Gospel is a matter of the heart – God’s heart to our heart, to the hearts of our unsaved contemporaries. And the heart of the Gospel is the love of God in Jesus Christ. No matter that you aren’t a preacher. Get this book, read and savor it, and begin to practice the sound principles of Gospel communication carefully and clearly unpacked here. You will be emboldened as a witness and blessed as a follower of Christ.

Science
America’s eastern hemlocks are dying, victims of a minute insect that literally sucks the life out of them. As Gabriel Popkin reports in the 21 August 2015 issue of Science, the once-spectacular hemlock forests of Appalachia are under relentless attack by an insect called an adelgid, and they are failing (“Battling a Giant Killer”). The eastern hemlock is one of the most beautiful and spectacular species of North American trees. And the oldest, largest, and most spectacular of them are withering under the adelgid assault. But perhaps we shouldn’t care too much, since the eastern hemlock is of no economic value to human beings. In fact, when hemlocks die, they make room for sunlight and a variety of other tree species more beneficial to people. So why is an enormous effort being undertaken to save the hemlocks? Scientists from many disciplines are pursuing a multi-frontal project to eradicate or control adelgids and renew hemlock forests up and down the east coast. This is an expensive, long-term, generation-spanning project, and it looks like it’s here to stay. But why? Mere scientific curiosity? Or could it be that beauty – even useless beauty – matters as a thing in itself?

Criticism
A very helpful pair of commentaries on criticism appeared in the September 1, 2015 New York Times online. Adam Kirsch and Charles McGrath address the question, “Is Everyone Qualified to Be a Critic?” with the answer, “Well, they should be.” “Criticism” is used here with respect to arts and opinions, and both writers agree that, in one respect at least, everyone is a critic. Everyone has some response to a film or novel or work of art. This is good. But to be useful criticism must be informed by understanding and experience, and it must be proffered with a view to appreciation and edification. This article is worth reading by Christians seeking to engage people from other world views about their opinions and views on various issues. It offers, albeit indirectly, helpful insights about starting and maintaining conversations with people whose views may differ radically from our own, and about making our own views understandable, winsome, and perhaps even persuasive.

Envoi
Useless Beauty
Meditation on the Eastern Hemlock

Here is an altogether useless tree –
for most, that is.  For man’s economy

cannot accommodate a wood that breaks
the ax or saw, and which, when burning, makes

unsafe sparks shoot about like fireflies,
or which, because no sooner cut, it dies,

no Yuletide decorations can provide.
Oh, men have made tea of its twigs, and tried

it as a railroad tie, but mostly they
just leave it to its own secluded way,

in cool ravines, or on north-facing slopes
amid dense hardwood forests, where it gropes

for light with silver-bellied needles, layer
on layer arranged, like arms spread wide in prayer,

in gentle symmetry, ascending to
an inauspicious, rounded peak, and through

the energies of which, each second or
third year – and for 450 more –

is manufactured such a delicate
and lovely cone – so pendent-like, and yet

unrivalled by the jeweler’s art – as to
provoke to wonder and delight all who

from economic interests separate
themselves, and useless beauty contemplate.

T. M. Moore