By: Daron George on February 26, 2023
“The Map That Changed the World” is a book written by Simon Winchester and published in 2001. The book tells the story of William Smith, a 19th-century English geologist who created England and Wales’s first geological map, changing how people thought about the Earth’s history. The book describes Smith’s life, his early career as a…
By: Tonette Kellett on February 26, 2023
In The Map that Changed the World we read about an engineer named William Smith that lived in the late 1700s and early 1800s. [1] He built canals and discovered many fossils along the way. In doing so, he found that the layers of rock beneath the surface of the earth rose and fell, and…
By: Audrey Robinson on February 26, 2023
This week’s readings couldn’t be more dissimilar on the surface. The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester and Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall are very different stories. As I pondered to find commonality – I realized it is the difference between them that I found merit and will explore. I will briefly…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on February 25, 2023
In Prisoners of Geography, Tim Marshall shares several ideas, and as I read the book question remains whether there will ever be peace on this side of heaven. I found this book interesting and will look at a few key ideas. My main takeaway is that, as suggested in his title, we might all be prisoners…
By: Chad McSwain on February 25, 2023
Have you ever considered that maps, or more precisely, the ground beneath you influences how you think? Without a doubt, we take the ground and maps for granted. We live in an age of pocket GPS that guides family road trips and gives accurate milage and minutes to the nearest McDonalds, yet this is a…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on February 25, 2023
Maps. They tell us the mysteries of the ground upon which we walk. They also highlight the strategies humans have used to mold and shape their lives in their front and backyards, according to their topography, throughout history. I have always loved maps and associate them with new adventures, unique learnings about the world, trail…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 25, 2023
“Someone who has clarity about his or her own life goals…, and therefore, be able to take stands at the risk of displeasing” -Edwin H. Friedman- Being a leader who leads sincerely is not easier than being a leader who only wants to seek his own security. During my vicariate tenure for two…
By: Jonathan Lee on February 24, 2023
Tom Holland, the author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind, is a British writer who wrote novels and historical non-fiction books on topics of classical and medieval history. In Dominion, Tom analyzes the rise and impact of Christianity on the western world. He divides the book into three parts – Antiquity, Christendom, and…
By: Kally Elliott on February 24, 2023
There is a member of our family who we all, and I do mean ALL of us, allow to set the agenda. She is needy, definitely the most anxious member of the family, afraid of her own shadow, and constantly demanding attention. Always watching, following us from room to room, she is undifferentiated and fully…
By: Michael O'Neill on February 24, 2023
The Map That Changed the World by Simon Winchester offers an engaging perspective into one man’s incredible journey towards creating something truly revolutionary, driven solely by passion and dedication. Similarly, Marshall’s book, Prisoners of Geography, provides a comprehensive overview of each region’s geopolitical dynamics, as well as its cultural influences from ancient times to the…
By: Denise Johnson on February 24, 2023
It is not hard to see that we no longer live in a Christian dominated society. The fluidity of thought, values, and the definition of what is right and wrong changes so quickly it is hard to keep up. All the while there is one group or another crying out that their human rights have…
By: Tim Clark on February 23, 2023
I’m going to start this post with a confession. As I was reading A Failure of Nerve, Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix [1]by Edwin H. Friedman, I thought about the people at church who approach me after a sermon and ask, “have you been reading my mail?” Most often I have no clue what…
By: Jana Dluehosh on February 23, 2023
The Time that is Given to us. The Lord of the Rings, honestly one of most favorite movies. Bet you thought I was going to say book didn’t you. I’ve tried many times to read the book and only get to the end of book one and I’m done. I get exhausted trying to figure…
By: Adam Harris on February 23, 2023
Tennessee, my home state, was the setting for the famous “Scopes Monkey Trial” where the theory of evolution was debated as whether this subject was appropriate to be taught to students in school. Many in the early 1900’s believed this theory directly contradicted the creation story found in Scripture. Since then, more Abrahamic faiths have…
By: Esther Edwards on February 23, 2023
All through history people have not only lived out their faith, but they have died for their faith with conviction and hope. In so many cases, death could have been easily avoided by simply accepting a “lesser Jesus”, accepting him to be one god of many gods. Gerald L. Sittser, in his book, “Waters from…
By: Jenny Dooley on February 23, 2023
I approached Edwin Friedman’s book, Failure of Nerve, with a great deal of curiosity and a fair amount of apprehension. I am quite familiar with the practice of non-anxious presence discussed in his book and yet I notice myself faltering in certain anxiety prone situations. In my attempts to restore equilibrium and balance I…
By: Nicole Richardson on February 23, 2023
Humanism adheres to the understanding that each human has value and dignity; because of that inherent value humans have no need of religion to define what is moral/ethical/good. Humans can be good without God. Postmodern thinkers push back on the “one truth” because one’s experience is more revelatory to define one’s truth; truth is relative. …
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on February 23, 2023
WARNING! This post may not be for you! I share: 1. My Heart 2. My Authentic Space 3. My Introspective Thoughts (I met with my Coach an hour before writing it) So, govern yourself accordingly, there is no love lost between us if you skip over it without reading. For everyone else, I invite you…
By: Troy Rappold on February 23, 2023
In his 2019 book, Dominion, author Tom Holland attempts to explain how Christianity became “the most powerful hegemonic cultural force in the history of the word” (p. xxv). It is not a history of Christianity per se, but rather he seeks “to explore how we in the West came to be what we are, and…
By: Pam Lau on February 23, 2023
I was a young adult, eager and enthusiastic, with my first experience of anxiety. Maybe 19? Maybe 20? The memory is still blurred. But I remember the thinning of my feelings as my heart palpitated wildly beneath my chest, the involuntary panic that I would never want another soul to know I carried around in…
