Saturday, March 08, 2008

For Weekend Web Reading

* Randy Alcorn has a couple of very thoughtful devotional essays on his blog dealing, respectively, with Blaise Pacal (illustration at left) and Augustine. I think you'll find them weighty and inspirational. Pascal and Augustine are Christian thinkers who evangelicals would do well to better understand and appreciate and Randy's reflections on their longings for joy, for meaning, and for God Himself serve as a great introduction. For that matter, even those who are well versed in these two great figures will also find Randy's insights of great interest and value.

* On this page at Christian Heritage, our old English L'Abri friends Ian Cooper and Ranald Macaulay weigh in on Richard Dawkins' much-ballyhooed atheism. First, Ian introduces the subject with a quick review of David Robertson's critique of Dawkins at a Borders bookstore in Cambridge. Ian also gives some info on Robertson's own book (The Dawkins Letters) as well as a link to Rev. Robertson's talk and follow-up question and answer session. Then Ranald joins in with a brief but spirited and well-reasoned review of Dawkins' The God Delusion. Very interesting stuff.

* Here's the stirring, straightforward (and inexplicably controversial) speech Bill Cosby gave in May of 2004 at the NAACP's commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. There's no doubt you've heard about it and similar statements Cosby has voiced since then. But there's an incredible difference between hearing a mere sound bite and a bunch of blathering comments from journalists about what Bill Cosby said...and just hearing Bill Cosby make his case in full. Read it (or even listen to a portion it) right here.