We live in an age of shame. We are instructed endlessly to feel ashamed of almost everything. We are constantly afraid of a slip in how we say things--someone is sure to pounce. Those of us who are doomed to be male are supposed to be ashamed, even though we acknowledge the historical mistreatment of women, maybe even our own. Those of us who are white are condemned to shame, even though, once again, we ask forgiveness for the stain of slavery and the ongoing consequences of privilege. We are taught to be ashamed of our country, for the wars we have created, the displacement of native populations, for the destruction of the landscape. We are scolded these days to be embarrassed by patriotism.This word of shame comes down hard on Christians. We are told to be ashamed of all kinds of things, the dark chapters of the Crusades or the Inquisition, the way we have treated those who are different, the purported hypocrisy of changing our views. We are even told to be embarrassed that we claim our faith to be true: “Who’s to say what is true?”

I am looking for solutions these days, fresh angles on the daunting challenges of our day. So often fresh angles are the most controversial. This book offers such a new take, controversy and all.

Sharon and I just returned from a marvelous trip to several Northern European cities, Amsterdam chief among them. There of course we spent time in the incomparable Rijksmuseum, home to a glorious collection of its chief residents, Rembrandt and Vermeer. We then went next door to Van Gogh’s own museum. It was all a rich time, stimulating beyond belief.

Why write a blog? There must be a zillion of them out there. So many are motivated by some measure of self-indulgence, I suppose, some hankering toward self-promotion. That there are so many, coming from all different angles, surely speaks to the splintering of our society. We each tend to read what confirms our thinking in the first place. So why would I want to revamp and refresh and begin again writing my own blog? Why not just let things go? Can’t you just relax, I ask myself?

I read this marvelous book many years ago. For some reason I picked it up again for my early-morning reading. What an incredible book. This is the story of Lewis’s childhood and early adult years. It is the story of adult formation, spiritual formation, intellectual formation.

I am shocked that I had not discovered Nikolai Berdyaev until recently. This book is fabulous. This writer speaks my language. Berdyaev is Russian, of course, writing about his beloved homeland and the fate of Europe in the smoldering aftermath of World War I. He also watched with dismay the emergence of Soviet power through the Bolsheviks. These were dark times.

This is a fabulous book. It is about believing in our age of unbelief. It is about saying what we believe in an age when the language of faith has grown thin, stale, inadequate. It is decidedly not, though, about nailing down our faith in some pat formula of theological statement. Wiman is a poet. Words matter to him. And so he demands authentic, honest language to talk about his encounter with the living God.

This is an important book. We’ve caught glimpses of this book shaping up over the last few years through Brooks’ New York Times columns and his various speeches, twice on my campus, many of them at other Christian universities. He has become intensely focused on the formation of moral and spiritual character. A life of self-giving and humility shine through.

This book is one of three essential reads, says David Brooks, if we hope to understand the daunting challenges facing our contemporary society. Putnam is ever the exceptional social scientist, marshaling all the statistics needed to support his main thesis: The American dream is in crisis.

David Brooks is a huge fan of Christian colleges and universities. Here is an amazing address he gave to the Council For Christian Colleges And Universities (CCCU) last winter in D.C. at the 40th Anniversary Celebration. He puts it all together in this speech.

Here’s an outstanding article from the inimitable Richard John Neuhaus, founder of First Things, consummate public intellectual. He is writing on one of my favorite topics: How the Christian University can continue to thrive up against enormous challenges.

This is another fine article reprinted recently by First Things. The article is by Gertrude Himmelfarb, prolific writer on matters of culture, often a strong critic of the consequences of secularization. This piece is about the revolution that has taken place in the American university and the call for a counter-revolution by the Christian university.

I spent last weekend longing for some fresh summer breezes. But really my thoughts turned again and again to the parched landscape of our world. And I thought, yes, we need a cool breeze to blow through the land bringing some hint of new beginnings.

I find myself looking for solutions these days. I’ve grown weary of the endless analysis of our problems. Enough already. Usually such analysis splits on the ideological axis—it’s either from the left or the right. The solutions then seem tired, worn, inspiring little confidence. Yuval Levin is a bracing breath of fresh air

What’s roiling our college campuses? Does this tortured turmoil signal the cutting edge of a new kind of education? Are these events the early signs of reframing a new broader culture? Something big is happening. We better pay attention. This outstanding article from The New Yorker by Nathan Heller called “The Big Uneasy: What’s roiling the liberal arts campus?” is a must read for all of us who care about the state of the university.

No one I know is old. We are all just growing a bit older, as we like to say. Here is a wise book that can inspire us through this sometimes arduous process. Cicero is one of the great writers of classical antiquity, highly regarded for both rhetoric and insight. And so with wit and wisdom he tackles here this knotty subject.

I was taken aback by a piece . . . in the Spectator, the student newspaper of Columbia University. I can’t shake it, though believe me I’ve tried. I won’t name the four undergraduate authors, because 30 years from now their children will be on Google, and because everyone in their 20s has the right to be an idiot.

New York Times columnist David Brooks has been talking a lot (in speeches, columns, and his marvelous new book The Road To Character) about the formation of character. He has asked his readers to talk on his book website about their purpose in life and to reflect on where they may have first begun to discover that purpose.

Are you ever suddenly surprised that there is something instead of nothing? Or that there is everything? Or anything at all? These things often strike me with an overwhelming sense of wonder. We are often just amazed over the smallest of ordinary experiences? Perhaps something from beyond the edge is suddenly present, peeking in, as it were, making silent announcement of something more than can ever be contained by the physical experience alone.

Sharon and I went to see Woody Allen’s delightful movie last night called “Magic in the Moonlight.” I highly recommend the movie, just perfect for a late summer evening.