Wonder on the Web

Issue 29: Links to amazing stuff

Behemoths by the Dozen

This is not the type of poem we usually recommend, but you may nevertheless get a kick out of it. A science writer gets lyric about enormous prehistoric monsters:

The past is packed with monsters! Behemoths by the dozen! Let's meet these fossils (and their less colossal modern cousins) . . .

The Beauty of Orthodoxy

As a magazine focused on wonder, we have been intentional about not limiting ourselves to science and nature. Rather, we’ve sought to also show how theology can create a deep awe within us. (Corporately, our company calls this idea Beautiful Orthodoxy.) A recent CT essay by editor Kevin Emmert demonstrates how a doctrine came to his aid in a time of mourning:

I saw a glimmer of hope. It didn’t come from counseling, prayer, or personal encouragement. It came through my theological studies. I discovered a doctrine—and, more important, a reality—that comforted me and forever altered my view of the Christian life.

The doctrine is called union with Christ. I had heard of it before, but in a class on Martin Luther, I encountered it in a way that excited me . . . it dawned on me: If I am one with Christ, as he and the Father are one, then he’s always with me, even in this terrible episode (John 17:20–26).

Earth View

Sage folks in our culture often repeat the locution “Look up,” reminding us to seek perspective. In this case, we’re asking you to “Look down.” The aerial advantage is harder to obtain day to day, but Google has made it easy with Earth View, “a collection of the most beautiful and striking landscapes found in Google Earth.” The Google Chrome plugin probably doesn’t make us more productive, but does help to set the context for each new tab, reminding us that the world is a very beautiful place.

What Makes an Octopus So Smart?

We featured the alien-like creature in our last issue, and now we point you to Nature for a deeper look at what’s behind the animal’s brilliant mind and strange body. Scroll down for a short video that summarizes how an octopus’s large and unique genome gives it the intelligence to open a jar and the body to shape-shift and change colors.

Our Latest

Ethics Aren’t Graded on a Curve

President Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter Biden was wrong, and no amount of bad behavior from Donald Trump changes that fact.

News

UK Christians Lament Landmark Vote to Legalize Assisted Dying 

Pro-life faith leaders say Parliament’s proposed bill fails to protect the vulnerable and fear it will “create more suffering and chaos.”

Strike Up the Band: Sixpence None the Richer Goes Back on Tour

With its perennial hit “Kiss Me” still in our ears and on our playlists, the Christian band reunites with nothing to prove.

Christianity Today’s Book of the Year

Two volumes rose to the head of the class.

The Christianity Today Book Awards

Our picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.

The Bulletin

Matrescence with Lucy Jones

 

The Bulletin welcomes Lucy Jones for a conversation with Clarissa Moll on the neuroscience and social transformation of motherhood. 

Testimony

I Demolished My Faith for ‘My Best Life.’ It Only Led to Despair.

Queer love, polyamory, and drugs ruined me. That’s where Jesus found me.

The Book Screwtape Feared Most

Once a bedrock Christian classic, Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy” has been neglected for decades. It’s time for a revival.

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