John Donne’s (1572-1631) poem The Bait is a poem about the winsome appeal of Jesus Christ, his teachings, message and life. Here at Well Read Christian we take the truth of Christianity’s attractive nature to heart, and even though arguments and critical thinking are essential, there is a beauty to the Christian viewpoint that advocates sometimes forget. We would like to share with you our vision––and the poem––in this episode.
Can human beings determine their own destiny, or are we the inevitable product of our environment and nature? Sam Harris is convinced that free will is an illusion. After all, if the world is just matter and motion, how could there be free will? Not everyone agrees with Harris, however, and many thinkers see free will as a self-evident axiom on which morality is based. The question of free will is one that every serious thinker must consider, and for Tolstoy, this is an essential prerequisite for the question of human motivation and therefore the cause and direction of history.
In one captivating, emblematic scene in War and Peace, Tolstoy embodies every ideal to which Well Read Christian aspires. Two childhood friends are reunited after several years to discover they have grown into very different people, with very different views of life. Andrei is skeptical and cynical, rejecting belief in God, objective meaning to the universe or objective morality. Pierre is idealistic, religious, perhaps naive, but filled with purpose and a reason to live honorably. The conversation that ensues is exactly the kind we hope to encourage and facilitate in our podcast and blog. From the porch to the river, under a sunset and then the night sky, these two characters engage in a respectful, passionate and intellectual conversation, with mutual respect, admiration and love. This is the goal of Well Read Christian, captured in beautiful and iconic prose.
There are brief moments in our lives where we are thrust out of ourselves and granted to see life as exceptionally magnificent, but also too close to touch, and impossible to fathom. For some people, it is love, poetry, friendship or maybe a film which causes us to see our world as a beautiful and cohesive whole for a fleeting and mysterious moment. For Andrei, it is the sky over a battlefield, a few notes in a song, and the cold grip of death. What do these moments of profound insight and deep emotion show us about life?
Pierre Bezukhov searches for meaning in high society, sacrifice, relationships and religion, but ultimately he finds these things purposeless. Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist, says that the question of meaning is a bad question. Jordan Peterson says that personal responsibility provides an adequate foundation for meaning. St. Augustine says our hearts are restless until they find God. Leo Tolstoy says we have the whole question backwards.
With rhetorical mastery, psychological insight and an artist’s vision of the world, the prolific Russian author Leo Tolstoy (1828—1910) takes a few narratives, a brutal war, and a modern view of history to capture all of life in his 1,200 page epic War and Peace. Tolstoy asks this pivotal question: how are decent people capable of war and slaughter? Then, Tolstoy digs deeper; what causes anyone’s behavior at all? War and Peace is Tolstoy’s answer to the question of human motivation, desire and interaction, from the scope of monarchs and peasants, soldiers and slaves, in country and city life alike. The finished product is one of the finest achievements in human civilization.
Most people today live complex lives. Who has time to read? More than that, who has time to read old books? If such few people can be convinced to read any book at all, how could anybody be convinced to read Anna Karenina or The Grapes of Wrath? Let me offer you a brief overview of the reasons why Great Books are timeless classics that you ought to read and cherish today––from the very voices of C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) and Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586).
With so many religions in the world and secular scientism dominating the academy, it seems to many people that a serious belief in a single (especially religious) worldview is naive, narrow minded, and obviously preposterous. So the question stands, is Christianity a reasonable worldview for the 21st century?
A person who does not examine their beliefs is like a fish who does not know it is wet. Consequently, they will share the same outlook towards life as a fish. Fumbling around, trying not to get caught in a net or eaten by a shark, and ultimately aimless in a never ending quest for food and temperate waters. If you want to have more depth, you need to think about what you believe and why you believe it.
Here at the Well Read Christian, we believe that an essential part of being a well-rounded, multi-faceted and generally fulfilled person requires reading good books. Your thought processes five years from now will be guided by the things you read between now and then. Whether you’re trying to read the Bible more consistently, or you just want to make reading great material a part of your life, here are some tips to get a reading habit assimilated into your life in an effective way.