Tag: Jason Micheli

  • In Praise of Bad Writing: David Bentley Hart’s New Testament

    In Praise of Bad Writing: David Bentley Hart’s New Testament

    The New Testament, as translated by the influential Orthodox theologian David Bentley Hart, is bad.  But that’s what makes it such a good read for Christians who need their settled understandings tweaked. Hart’s new translation doesn’t strive for literary heights. He has an ear for beautiful language, something that comes through in all of his…

  • Heartlands Best Reads of 2017:#1 Lincoln in the Bardo (& a recap)

    Heartlands Best Reads of 2017:#1 Lincoln in the Bardo (& a recap)

    There are certain things you know you’re going to find when you sit down to read a George Saunders story.  It will be weird, funny, engaging, and surprisingly deep.  I expected no less from Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunders’ first novel and I was not disappointed. The book, which won the Man Booker Prize this year,…

  • Heartlands Best Reads of 2017: #10 Strangers In Their Own Land

    Heartlands Best Reads of 2017: #10 Strangers In Their Own Land

    It’s been a great year for reading.  I credit Sarah Willson Craig for inviting me into a real mid-life reading renaissance.  She’s the one who posted the Better World Reading Challenge on Facebook in 2016 and got a group of friends committed.  I’m grateful. Since everyone else is doing their end-of-the-year list, I decided to…

  • Humor & Theology at the Chemo Pump – A Review of Cancer is Funny

    Humor & Theology at the Chemo Pump – A Review of Cancer is Funny

    My review of Jason Micheli’s Cancer is Funny: Keeping Faith in Stage-Serious Chemo [Fortress Press, 2016] is now up on the great Englewood Review of Books.  Full disclosure: Jason is one of the pastors I work with in the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church and I was on one of his recent podcasts of Crackers…