J.W. Sire: Thinking, and then Cooling Off

"Second, thinking is rarely a matter of cold, heartless, calculating logic. Thinking feels. Sometimes when I am reading--and thinking while reading--my mind becomes so hot, so affected by the implications of the ideas, that I stop to cool off." James Sire, Habits of the Mind: Intellectual Life as a Christian Calling

S. Friedman on the Things that Won't Go Out of Style

"But intellectual curiosity, vigorous research, acute analysis, and elegant prose will never go out of style. If anything, the shorter the supply, the more those traits will be valued." ~Letters to a Young Journalist

Updike's Novels as Illustrations

From Updike's essay/speech, "Remarks Upon Receiving the Campion Medal" in John Updike and Religion: The Sense of the Sacred and the Motions of Grace.

"The first, The Poorhouse Fair, carries and epigraph from the Gospel of Luke; the next, Rabbit, Run, from Paschal; the third, The Centaur, from Karl Barth; and the fifth, Couples, from Paul Tillich. I thought of my novels as illustrations for texts from Kierkegaard and Barth; the hero of Rabbit, Run was meant to be a representative Kierkegaardian Man, as his name, Angstrom, hints. Man in a state of fear and trembling, separated from God, haunted by dread, twisted by the conflicting demands of his animal biology and human intelligence, of social contract and the inner imperatives, condemned as if by otherworldly origins to perpetual restlessness--such was, and to some extent remains, my conception."

Grandfather's Manliness

A man who had mastered the art of manliness embodied many, if not all, of these manly characteristics:

*Looks out for and is loyal to his friends and family.

*Does the right thing, even when it's not convenient.

*Is proficient in the manly arts.

*Treats women with respect and honor.

*Serves and gives back to his community.

*Sacrifices for the good of others.

*Works hard and seldom complains.

*Exhibits both great courage and tender compassion.

*Has confident swagger but isn't a pompous jerk.

*Is witty without succumbing to sarcasm.

*Embraces instead of shirks responsibility.

~The Art of Manliness