Presby-Musings

Stephen Pressfield writes in the War of Art  that "Rationalization is Resistance's spin doctor ." It's true.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself for us to fulfill our calling, to seek the higher purpose, to make our art to write that novel... We rationalize a million different reasons why it won't work, we can't start, we have other, more important things to do. And sometimes these reasons seem so valid and on point. This week I experienced a bit of that rationalization.  I am working on my doctoral degree , which means that twice a year I go into learning/paper writing/going to school mode.  It means that I am away from home for two weeks at a time in June and then again in January.  It means that I will be reading  a ton of books and doing assignments before I go, and then reading a ton of books and writing a paper or three after I get back. And the further I get into the process, the harder it has been to maintain it. This week the r...

The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers by Cathleen Falsani; Zondervan, 2010 Cathleen Falsani is easily one of my favorite writers who also happens to be a Christian.  I rather like describing her that way because it's hard to fit her into the typical "Christian" writer mold.  I also rather like that Zondervan publishes her work, which ensures that it at least gets marketed to a "Christian" audience that quite frankly needs to hear what she has to say. Falsani is an award-winning religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times , and a graduate of the slightly conservative, evangelical, private Wheaton College in Illinois.  She's also the author of a fantastic book of essays on grace, faith, God and everything entitled Sin Boldly.   She's also a huge fan of the Coen Brothers , which endears me to her even more.  The Coen Brothers are the writer/director duo that have been responsible for such Oscar winning movies as Fargo, O Broth...