Monthly Archives: August 2011

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Book Review It has earned prestigious awards and been reviewed a thousand times already, but I’ll add my voice to it anyway. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a magnificent life story, and Laura Hillenbrand is a magnificent story-teller. (I couldn’t synopsize the book any better than Mike Fleming, …

August 28, 2011 – 7:18 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Hurricane Irene Update

Hurricane Irene had very little impact here at our home. We are very grateful, and yet very concerned for friends nearby. This power outage map is a kind of proxy map of hurricane damage. You’ll see that York County was relatively spared, for reasons we do not know. Some of that map area in our …

August 28, 2011 – 12:49 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Comments Off

Earth, Air, Fire, Water—and God

Several years ago my wife and I were hiking in the Anaheim Hills when we heard a drumbeat ahead of us. Our first thought was of a Boy Scout troop, but it turned out instead to be a pagan circle chanting their praises to earth, air, fire, and water. I can’t help thinking about that …

August 27, 2011 – 9:00 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in New Atheism, Religions, The Faith | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (25)

Hurricane Irene

We’re in the path of Hurricane Irene here. We’re not expecting major trouble, since we’re off to the side of it a ways, but I’d appreciate everyone’s prayers not only for us but for the whole east coast. There’s a good chance we’ll lose power for a while, and if that happens I’ll be off …

August 26, 2011 – 3:56 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Comments Off

A Secular Sort of Dominionism

A Liberal Idea of Civility A First Things: Evangel commenter who goes by “Remember Rollen” had this to say in the discussion on Hunter Baker’s article on dominionism: If a “gay rights” law touching basic matters of justice cannot be justified in terms we can reasonably expect others to accept, then we violate a liberal …

August 24, 2011 – 9:37 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Life and Choices | Tagged , , , | Comments (65)

A Great Answer To a Different Question

My most recent Daily Press column, A Great Answer To a Different Question, begins Here’s a snippet of a conversation I hear frequently, not exactly in these words, but something like it: Question: “I’ve been wondering something about people who believe in the Bible. How do you know that it’s true?” Answer: “Because it’s God’s …

August 22, 2011 – 5:02 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Bible, Evidences, Thinking Christianly | Tagged , , , , | Comments (25)

Summer Reading Wrap-Up

It’s been a great summer for reading. Watch for reviews to come (I’ll update here with links when I add the reviews). Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (Review) The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization by Vishal Mangalwadi …

August 21, 2011 – 2:05 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Arts and Culture, The Faith, Thinking Christianly | Comments (3)

Teachers, Run For Your Lives!

Mount Dora, Florida schools have just suspended a teacher because he made some students wonder whether he would treat them unfairly. Look out, teachers. Unless you’re perfect—and your students are too—someone is going to wonder if you’re treating them unfairly. Whoosh, down comes the axe on your job. Meanwhile, it’s been a long, long time …

August 19, 2011 – 1:45 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Life and Choices | Tagged , , | Comments (4)