I had the great privilege of interviewing Jean Bethke Elshtain. She was a formidable intellect who consulted and corrected presidents. Elshstain was a wonderful communicator both with the written and spoken word. Her book on Augustine is beautifully written and contains loads of insight.
Jonathan Winters, one of the truly great comedians, has recently died. Enjoy this four minute clip of his greatness.
I did not know Edmund Morgan, but several of his books are some of my favorites in studying and teaching American history. Two books on the Puritans were early reads and ones I have gone back to on many occasions since. His book, The Challenge of the American Revolution, was a companion on a trip back east and his biography on Franklin was my most recent read of his books. He was that rare historian who could write lucid, interesting, insightful, and competent works. Scholars had to pay notice, but anyone could read Morgan. He was not afraid to be clear.
There are many tributes about Morgan, but here is one by Joseph Ellis, who studied under Morgan. Not surprisingly, Ellis also writes competent and accessible books. Founding Brothers, which won the Pulitzer, is a book I have read and reread with great profit.
Lots of food for thought here!
Albert Mohler reflects on a lecture where he heard an insight that was life altering, “Several years ago, I attended a lecture in which I seized upon a thought that has never left me. The lecturer was Doctor Heiko Obermann, the great and now late historian of the late Medieval and early Reformation eras. In the midst of his lecture, he looked out at the audience, paused, reflected, and then said,
‘I can see that you do not understand what I am saying to you. What I am saying to you is that you do not live life as Martin Luther lived life. You do not wake up in the morning as he did, nor do you go to bed at night as he did. You need to understand something about changed conditions of belief. Do you not understand that in the time of Martin Luther, almost every single human being in European civilization woke up afraid that he would die before nightfall? Eternal destiny was a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute thought. Every night, as the late Medieval or early Reformation human being closed his eyes, he feared that he would wake up either in heaven or in hell. You do not live with that fear. And that means that your understanding of these things is very different from Martin Luther’s. That’s why he threw ink pots at the Devil, and you close your notebook and sleep well at night.'”
(Excerpted from atheism REMIX, p. 15-16 by R. Albert Mohler Jr.)