Marginal Christianity

Peter Lawler   So lots of readers (about six) have written me asking for advice on what book they should read to turn their lives around.   Here’s my recommendation:   Lost in the Cosmos  by the philosopher-physician-novelist Walker Percy. It was published in 1983, and I’m one of the very few Americans celebrating the book’s 30th anniversary. Several posts will be required to lay out even the basics about being lost in the cosmos.   This, of course, is the first.   Percy’s Lost in the Cosmos is subtitled “The Last Self-Book.” He said he gave the book that title so that it would end up in the self-help section of bookstores. And it did.   From Percy’s view, our bookstores are mostly filled with two kinds of books—self-help books and diverting or entertaining books about scandal-ridden law firms or extraterrestrials or vampires or a bunch of sexually obsessive shades of grey. Diversions, of course, get your min...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-carey/selfhelp-and-the-gospel_b_4220149.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=1813831b=facebook Posted: 11/06/2013 1:37 pm A Joel Osteen tweet crossed my Twitter feed the other day: "You were not created to be unhappy in order to keep everyone else happy. You've got to run your own race." I couldn't resist the temptation to reply: "That's fine self-help, but it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ ." When I read a Joel Osteen tweet, I assume it represents his public ministry, not his random musings. It may not be fair, but I hold his tweets to a higher standard than my own. Sometimes I tweet about golf or football, but I also post my professional thoughts concerning biblical studies, theology, or ministry. Joel Osteen's tweets all look like pastoral advice. In this case, he's missing the mark. What's the Matter? The problem with Joel Osteen's comment isn't that ...