Commentaries

Neverland was Peter Pan’s playground. The Scottish writer J. M. Barrie invented it as a metaphor for childishness and escapism. Neverland also depicts another invention—America as a “Christian nation.” It too is escapism.

Christians are understandably upset about the Supreme Court’s ruling giving gay and lesbian couples a fundamental right to marry. President Obama called the ruling a thunderbolt. If it was, it’s a great opportunity for believers to recognize reality.

Research indicates that people have three “awe” experiences a week on average. The benefits make us less self-centered. But for most folks, even Christians, these experiences occur more in nature than in church. Why?

About 14 percent of Zappos’ workforce recently quit. It’s similar to what happened when Ford introduced the assembly line. Many workers abruptly resigned. Ford and Zappos remind us of why it’s sometimes wiser to be an early non-adopter.

There’s an old adage—be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. Take the rise of the ‘religious nones.’ They might represent what evangelicals have long wished for.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So are interpretations of survey results apparently. Different groups often translate them in different ways. Consider how USA Today and Christianity Today interpret a recent Pew survey on religion.

Brunello Cucinelli makes sense of business by being “a great supporter of memory.” Scripture encourages us to be advocates for remembering the right things. Cucinelli seems to, which is why the “king of cashmere” sees how business ought to be.

Aaron Hurst believes that, in 20 years, the pursuit of purpose is likely to eclipse other models, such as the Information Economy. Maybe—but it would require thinking about numbers the right way. And that would require the right infrastructure.

Three Chicago-area professors are using economics to show why some stories fail to hold listeners’ attention. Great stories leverage “scarce resources.” That’s worth considering, as scripture features the same resources but few sermons do.

Two millennia ago, a highly educated Jew became the apostle to the Gentiles. Are we now seeing another Jewish leader, also well educated, sort of serving as an apostle—except this time to the New Copernicans?