One of my favorite books I read this year was Rob Kapilow’s Listening for America, a tour through the genius of American musical theater. I was delighted to get to write an appreciation for Fare Forward. Reading Kapilow took me one step further into appreciation. He has a gift for worked examples and teaches by rewriting… Read More
Tag: Fare Forward
I Was A Nine Year Old Stoic…
I reviewed several books of New Stoicism for Fare Forward, and discussed my own Stoic-influenced childhood. Here's an excerpt: I loved Stoicism for two reasons, one petty and one profound. I liked that Stoicism seemed to make me stronger (and, thus, to my thinking then, better) than other people. While the other kids were upset, I… Read More
Both/And Philanthropy
"Jeremy Beer endorses local charities [in The Philanthropic Revolution: An Alternative History of American Charity], which can best further what he sees as the primary purpose of philanthropy, 'to increase opportunities for and strengthen the possibilities of authentic human communion.' In contrast, William MacAskill [in Doing Good Better] cuts ties with a charity focusing on… Read More
Transactional Salvation
"Just like the children [in the marshmallow test], we’ve been asked to wait out a temptation in exchange for greater rewards in this life or the next (and we tend to cheat in fairly similar ways). But the experiment also exposes some reasons that this understanding of God’s rules may wind up leaving a bitter… Read More
Bridging the Word Gap
"Poorer children start falling behind the richer children in their age cohort long before they toddle off to their first day of school or sit down for their first standardized test. Before formal instruction begins, children learn from their parents. Poorer children fall into a 'word gap'—they hear and say fewer things per day than… Read More
On Prayer, Post-Conversion
"When I started adapting my life to make room for God, I took to scheduling in religion the way that I’d schedule a dinner with a friend, or a movie night. I made sure to leave discrete blocks of time to do religion, whether it was going to Daily Mass at the church down the… Read More
Against Fairness
"Stephen T. Asma’s book is titled Against Fairness, but it doesn’t take too long for the reader to discover what he is for. Asma thinks we’ve neglected nepotism, favoritism, and particularity in our relationships and our moral reasoning. Our natural impulse to play favorites is, in his opinion, actively suppressed: children have to bring in… Read More
Why Priests?
"[In Why Priests? A Failed Tradition, Garry] Wills sees the pomp and circumstance of church as drawing our attention away from the God who became Man and directing it towards just one particular man, swathed in robes and standing front stage center. But when an actor puts on costuming and grease- paint, she does it to become… Read More
Philip Pullman’s Grimm Fairy Tales
"Why does God feel so far from the magical world? Fairy tales are, after all, not anarchic; there is a strong moral component to many stories (the virtuous third son succeeds where his vice-ridden brothers have failed; secret sins are revealed grotesquely). In addition to law, there is some kind of law keeper, since justice… Read More