After a summer break, the triumvirate is back together to talk about books and biography. Kevin and Justin highlight some of their favorite books from the past few months, and Collin talks about the Tim Keller biography (of sorts) he has coming in the months ahead. Before getting to the books, the three friends discuss the latest news regarding Matt Chandler’s leave of absence from The Village Church and what lessons there may be for all of us.

Timestamps:

Intro and Sponsor #1: Crossway [0:00-3:04]

When Pastors Fail [3:05-27:44]

Sponsor #2: Desiring God [27:45-29:39]

Tim Keller's Influences [29:40-40:44]

Update on Keller's Health [40:45-42:21]

Justin's Summer Books [42:22-46:30

Kevin's Summer Books [46:31-53:47]

Current Projects [53:48-58:20]

Books:

Watergate: A New History - Garrett Graff

https://www.amazon.com/Watergate-History-Garrett-M-Graff/dp/1982139161/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?crid=DP6EMZZH3P0B&keywords=garrett+graff&qid=1661821814&sprefix=garrett+graff%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-2

My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir - Clarence Thomas

https://www.amazon.com/My-Grandfathers-Son-Clarence-Thomas/dp/006056556X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=OTWTNASNJCMC&keywords=my+grandfather%27s+son+clarence+thomas&qid=1661821764&sprefix=my+grandfa%2Caps%2C102&sr=8-1

The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution - James Oakes

https://www.amazon.com/Crooked-Path-Abolition-Antislavery-Constitution/dp/1324020199/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=5WC8DOZQJ0X5&keywords=The+Crooked+Path+to+Abolition&qid=1661821876&sprefix=the+crooked+path+to+abolition%2Caps%2C186&sr=8-1

Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington - Ted Widmer

https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Verge-Thirteen-Days-Washington/dp/1476739447/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2VOGULCPX61AB&keywords=13+days+to+washington&qid=1661821951&sprefix=13+days+to+washington%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-1

The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789 - Robert Middlekauff

https://www.amazon.com/Glorious-Cause-American-Revolution-1763-1789/dp/019531588X/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=WX3FN60ZMV0K&keywords=oxford+history+of+the+united+states&qid=1661821997&sprefix=oxford+his%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-5

Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 - Gordon S. Wood

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0199832463?ref_=dbs_m_mng_wam_calw_tpbk_9&storeType=ebooks&qid=1661821997&sr=8-5

What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 - Daniel Wal

People know when their leaders no longer like them

In this episode, Kevin reads from an article he wrote for WORLD reflecting on one lesson from Liz Cheney’s 37-point defeat in Wyoming’s Republican primary.

We’re in a battle whether we like it or not, but how we fight matters.

In this episode, Kevin reads from the third of a series of articles for WORLD Opinions on how to think about Christianity and politics.

To ignore, minimize, or repudiate the differences between men and women is to reject our creational design.

In this episode, Kevin reads from an article written for Desiring God, reasoning why we should be careful not to banish patriarchy to the ash heap of history too quickly.

There is no category called “politics” that can be safely quarantined from the category we call “religion.”

In this episode, Kevin reads from the second of a series of articles for WORLD Opinions on how to think about Christianity and politics.

Maybe the movie ends with the good guys smiling with grateful satisfaction, knowing that whatever failures lay in the past, and whatever dangers lie ahead, this was a day for celebration.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the article he wrote for WORLD Opinions on why Christians should rejoice in the destruction of an instrument of death.

Kevin welcomes Tommy Kidd to LBE to talk about Tommy’s new biography on Thomas Jefferson. How should we understand Jefferson’s many inconsistencies and contradictions? How do we make sense of his significant moral failings? Was he a Christian? Is his legacy worth commemorating and celebrating? Kevin and Tommy talk about these questions and many others in an hour-long discussion that goes deep into history and helps us think about the Declaration of Independence that Americans will celebrate in just a few days.

Timestamps:

Intro and Guest: Thomas Kidd [0:00-6:32]

The Discipline of Writing [6:33-10:14]

Jefferson: Historical Hypocrite? [10:15-32:41]

Sally Hemmings [32:42-38:20

Jefferson's Religion [38:21-52:47]

The Mammoth Cheese Episode [52:48-56:33]

Jefferson vs. Patrick Henry [56:34-59:06]

Father of the University of Virginia [59:07-1:04:02]

Why Celebrate Jefferson? [1:04:03-1:10:46]

Books and Everything:

Thomas Kidd's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/thomasskidd

Thomas Kidd's newsletter: https://twitter.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=393885e6de8bef994ad9a4c3b&id=f10e42555a

Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh: https://a.co/d/elVxdLe

As much as abortion has been indefensible on constitutional grounds, the real monstrosity of Roe was not legal but moral. For 50 years the two sides of the debate have been called “pro-choice” and “pro-life,” and those are accurate labels. The ability to freely terminate a pregnancy—at any point in the pregnancy and for any reason—is certainly about the right to make a choice. But that invented constitutional right has been, even more fundamentally, about the ending of life. Everyone with eyes to see the literal pictures of beating hearts and 4D ultrasounds, not to mention the gruesome photos of preborn children torn limb from limb, has known that we are talking about life.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from an article he wrote for WORLD Opinions following the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade.

No doubt, we need a lot of smart people reflecting on the intellectual principles and the practical priorities of our moral philosophy. That’s a crucial conversation. But that’s not the conversation most ordinary people are having online, in church, and around the dinner table. They (and I should say we) are having a messy—but if done right, a really important—conversation about how to approach the conversation itself. As Christians in an age dominated by politics, we are trying to think about how we should think about Christianity and politics.

In this episode of Life and Books and Everything, Kevin reads from the first of a series of articles he wrote for WORLD Opinions on how to think about Christianity and politics.

In this episode of LBE, Kevin visits with Erika Bachiochi—a pro-life legal scholar, an author, a wife, and a mother of seven children. After discussing the Dobbs case which, we hope will overturn Roe, Kevin and Erika turn their attention to the Enlightenment writer Mary Wollstonecraft. In this wide-ranging discussion through Erika’s book The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (University of Notre Dame Press, 2021). Kevin and Erika talk about the staunch anti-abortion views of early women’s rights advocates, how the feminist movement lost its way, and why our culture needs a new (old) vision of motherhood and fatherhood.

Timestamps:

Intro and Sponsor [0:00-1:22]

Guest: Erika Bachiochi [1:23-8:48]

Abortion & Women's Rights History [8:49-19:12]

Mary Wollstonecraft - Misunderstood? [19:13-32:47]

Sexual and Reproductive Asymmetry [32:48-41:29]

Pregnancy, A Gift not a Liability [41:30-52:48]

Contemporary Sympathies to the Lost Vision [52:49-56:30]

Summing Up Erika's Book [56:31-59:57]

Books:

The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Catholic Ideas for a Secular World) 

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men