Richard Beck writes about his experience with Bram Stokers' novel Dracula.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a very Christian novel. I would even say that Dracula is one of the greatest Christian novels of all time. Christianity suffuses the book. Faith is the air the novel breaths. Fans of the novel, of course, are aware of this, but the pious devoutness of the story caught me by surprise.

Tim Challies writes about All Creatures Great and Small, which he dubs “the most pleasant show on television.”

So much of today’s entertainment is violent or edgy, provocative or profane. So much of it is a thinly-veiled veneer for identity politics as if that message is so important that no other quality really matters. It’s unpleasant—and if it’s unpleasant in the middle of the day it somehow seems even more so at the end of a day.

I’ve long been a little allergic to brandishing symbols of my Christian faith. When I was a youth, I had a beloved cross that I used to wear around my neck. The chain for it was broken whilst I took a thrashing at the hands of a playground bully in the sixth grade. For many years afterward, I refrained from adorning myself with anything that reflected my beliefs.

So sentiments expressing objective claims of morality or beauty are still, as in Lewis’s day, found to be offensive, but sentiments expressing identity are seen as sacred.

~ Alan Noble, on C.S. Lewis and education

Maybe it’s a bit early to be making New Year’s resolutions. Though this used to be a popular practice, many now don’t even believe in setting stretch goals just because the calendar changes. I confess that I have waxed and waned in my observance of making annual resolutions. This year, though, I have something lined up that I think will actually improve my life in meaningful ways.

The election is, whether mercifully or unmercifully, in the rearview mirror. Like some others, I want to turn my attention away from the day’s news, so closely coupled as it is with political events. Before I read about Kid Rock being appointed ambassador to the U.N., I mean to spend some time with my head in books. 

Standard Ebooks has inspired me by making the barrier to reading well-produced classics low and ebooks free to obtain. From the site:

Standard Ebooks takes ebooks from sources like Project Gutenberg, formats and typesets them using a carefully designed and professional-grade style manual, fully proofreads and corrects them, and then builds them to create a new edition that takes advantage of state-of-the-art ereader and browser technology.

This week I downloaded a collection from Emerson (which includes Self Reliance) and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. I haven’t started on Emerson yet, but I’ve found much enrichment in the latter book. Its short, focused chapters are a sort of balm in times when the world feels abrasive. 

In the pages of this 500-year-old book, you will find the very things that speak to the rancor and division of contemporary American society.

True it is that every man willingly followeth his own bent, and is the more inclined to those who agree with him. But if Christ is amongst us, then it is necessary that we sometimes yield up our own opinion for the sake of peace. Who is so wise as to have perfect knowledge of all things? Therefore trust not too much to thine own opinion, but be ready also to hear the opinions of others. Though thine own opinion be good, yet if for the love of God thou foregoest it, and followest that of another, thou shalt the more profit thereby.

I’m praying that I can read these words with fresh eyes. It’s easy to absorb the words at night, though, and much harder to go out into the following day and put them into practice.

Save, help, and protect us, O Virgin Theotokos.

I woke up at 4 AM a few days ago, hungry from fasting. I decided to check out what the internet had in store for me and ended up perusing through videos on YouTube. My early morning restlessness led me to a very strange video from singer Caroline Polachek and I followed that rabbit trail to an interview with her.

As with other times I’ve seen her interviewed, Polachek is lively, engaging and articulate. One part that struck me, though, is when she talks about the magic of crowds at her shows singing in unison. She understands the positive power that a group of people singing together brings. However, when she tries to come up with an instance of people coming together to sing in a way that expresses transcendence, the best analogy a creative and intelligent woman like Polachek can come up with is… a sporting event!