Literature
Don’t Be a Hero
“I don’t want to be considered a hero. Imagine, young people would grow up with the feeling that you have to be a hero to do your human duty. I am afraid nobody would ever help other people, because who is a hero? I was not. I was just an ordinary housewife and... »
Finding the Center: Ecumenism and the Manhattan Declaration
It is at her centre, where her truest children dwell, that each communion is really closest to every other in spirit, if not in doctrine. And this suggests that at the centre of each there is something, or a Someone, who against all divergences of belief, all differences of temperament, all memories of... »
“The Christmas List”
But the thing is that now that I really do want to make things better, there’s nothing I can do. Maybe this is hell, seeing the truth. Knowing fully the pain and hurt you’ve caused others and knowing there’s no way you can make it better. I’ve stolen their lives and... »
The Plimoth Experiment
In journaling the Plymouth settlement’s early years, William Bradford writes, “…All this whille no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expecte any. So they begane to thinke how they might raise as much torne as they could, and obtaine a beter crope then they had done, that they might... »
He Wanted a Table
I was so disappointed to discover that Clyde Robert Bulla passed away before I realized what a great childrens’ author he was, and had the chance to contact him. In his autobiographical work (for children, of course, but not unappreciable by adults), A Grain of Wheat, he writes of his very first day... »
Post-Civil-War Reflection on American Women: Education, Companionship, Housekeeping, and Pie
The following excerpt is from The Human Side of American History; ed. Richard C. Brown, late Professor Emeritus of History at the State University of New York at Buffalo, NY; from the 6th printing, 1968 by Ginn and Company, now part of Pearson PLC of London. The book appears to be out of... »
Quote: on taking each other seriously
Thanks so much to Melinda at Stand to Reason blog for reminding me of this quote of C. S. Lewis’ from the conclusion of his address, “The Weight of Glory”: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations–these are mortal, and their life is to... »
“Crossbearer: A Memoir of Faith”
“Please God, help me.” It’s a desperate plea from an unlikely source, Hollywood screenwriter and “bad boy” legend Joe Eszterhas. Widely known as “America’s king of sex and violence” and a “Machiavellian opportunist,” Eszterhas’ monikers include: “the cocaine cowboy. The weed eater. The tequila king.” He’s the “Hollywood animal” who wrote Basic Instinct, Jagged Edge,... »
Dorothy Sayers Speaks
I just love to read and re-read anything by Dorothy Sayers. Take this from “Creed or Chaos?” “If all men are offended because of Christ, let them be offended; but where is the sense of their being offended at something that is not Christ and is nothing like Him? We do Him singularly little honor... »
