Following Jesus in rejecting empire
Some thoughts about each of the podcast interviews
For the past several months I’ve been reading classic short stories on my podcast, Uncle Scott Reads. I just now hit podcast #26, which doesn’t seem so numerically significant until you understand that I’ve been reading short stories that begin with each letter of the alphabet. So from Araby, by James Joyce, to Mademoiselle Olympe…
I love a tee-shirt I have seen women of color wearing: “Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man.” I can identify so thoroughly with that saying because I know how to speak confidently about stuff I know just a little bit about. It’s a confidence which was not earned by honest consideration…
So I was lined up to be interviewed about a Zombie short story that was selected for an anthology. But I decided to turn the tables on my interviewer. “Hey,” I said. “Why don’t I interview you!” She just laughed. “That’d be awesome.” So for those of you stuck with unpublished works of fiction, I…
What do teenagers see as major problems among their generation? According 2018 survey of 13–17-year-olds (now aged 15-20) it’s anxiety and depression. I’d imagine nearly everyone in their teens and twenties today would score similarly. I work with those of you in this age range. You are clever, industrious, hungry for justice, lovers of beauty,…
There may be times where force is needed to restrain evil, especially when evil is directed against the vulnerable. Still, I find myself at home with Christian pacifists. I don’t believe, for instance, that I would use violence to protect myself from an attacker. And if I was called up to fight in a war…