Daily Links – 1.12.09

The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things
I recently received my review copy of the tenth anniversary of this important read from basic books. Look for a forthcoming review of the book, but for now, here’s a brief look into the book:

Two years after Jessica’s Law was implemented, as California was reeling from a $42 billion budget deficit, investigative reporters at the Los Angeles Times looked into its cost. They discovered that more than $24 million had been paid to private psychologists in 2007 to evaluate the sex offenders. The state didn’t have enough staff psychologists or pscyhiatrists to meet the demand, so it had to hire outside evaluators. A few of them made more than a million dollars working for the state part time. The result? Essentially no change in the number of sex offenders sent to mental hospitals. There were forty-one such cases in the eighteen months prior to Jessica’s Law, and forty-two in the eighteen months after it was implemented.

Unwrapping the Sacred: Seeing God in the Everyday
The new book from Rosemary Lain-Priestley is reviewed at The Guardian:

Drawing on examples from film, TV and music, this slim volume seeks to offer examples of Christian thought found in everyday life. Arranged as an almanac of reflections encompassing a year in the writer’s life, chapters include “October: the bendy bus of belief” and “November: the triumph of hope of Twitter”. They traverse a breathless array of cultural references, one moment quoting Des’ree songs, the next turning to the wisdom of John Humphrys and Alain de Botton. Lain-Priestly relies heavily on personal experience: we meet her partner, children and various colleagues and share her concerns, all viewed through the prism of her Anglican faith.

Manifold Witness: The Plurality of Truth
I have been hearing about this book all over the blogosphere, but here is what Julie Clawson has to say about it:

While the topic of truth gets a lot of air-time these days, few actually take the time to define what they are talking about or move beyond critiquing the “other side.” Franke though stays true to an evangelical affirmation of truth while at the same time thoughtfully engaging with the reality of pluralism. His nuanced approach to the discussion doesn’t rubber-stamp any extreme, but admits the complexity associated with faith and truth. And for that, I found his work to be refreshing. He admits upfront that “the expression of biblical and orthodox Christian faith is inherently and irreducibly pluralist” (7). But this isn’t an in-your-face assertion that must be swallowed whole; it is instead the idea that the whole book seeks to unpack and explore. With a faithful commitment to scripture and a tender compassion for the reader, Franke demonstrates how pluralism is not something to be feared or fought but is instead simply a beautiful intrinsic aspect of not just our faith but all creation.

Christians Care about the Wrong Things
And here’s the stats to prove it…