Search Our Writing:
What We Talk About When We Talk About Miracles
Sept 15, 2020 | By Serena Puang DC ‘22+1
In 2019, members of Bethel Church implored the world to join them in asking God to raise two-year-old Olive Heiligenthal from the dead. For six days, people gathered to pray, worship, and declare resurrection power over Olive, but she never woke up.
Incidents like these and more everyday occurrences such as seemingly unanswered prayers for loved ones make it hard to trust accounts of miracles or even hope that they will come. Sometimes the seemingly unanswered prayer is waved off by the supplicant’s lack of faith. Alternatively, it is seen as proof that no higher being is listening.
To Boldly Go…
Sept 15, 2020 | By Ben Colón-Emeric TD ‘22
If you wanted to build the perfect future, what would you do? When the world was brought to a screeching halt by COVID-19, there was talk of dramatic change, institutional upheaval. But how does dramatic change come about? How can we rethink the systems that shape our lives? Imagine for a moment that you have infinite resources and total control over public policy. No longer must you decide if you’re going to trust your mother to cut your hair: the decisions you make can shape anything from world governance, to education, to the direction of scientific research. What future do you choose to build, and how do you get there? I, like many people, would be heavily influenced by the genre that has focused on the future for the better part of one-and-a-half centuries: science fiction.
A Rumination with Reepicheep: The Wonder of Animals
Sept 14, 2020 | By Bella Gamboa JE ‘22
The room in the aquarium is darkened, each tank illuminated from a hidden source. Against the artificial blue background, a thin, pale filament drifts into view and is soon followed by the billowing body of a jellyfish. Contracting slightly, filling again with water, slowly moving. Yet it lacks a brain or recognizable organs, as it fills the viewer with undeniable wonder! This creature, unconscious yet an animal still; elusive, with some species practically immortal; delicate but painful or even dangerous to the touch.
(The) Divine Sight
Sept 14, 2020 | By Timothy Han SM ‘22+1
Lodged at the heart of the New Testament’s first book, the first version of the Christ story one encounters, is a thorny passage about the accessibility of God. After another of Christ’s sermons via parable, the disciples ask Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Beholding Mystery: Tintoretto’s Last Supper and Magnifying the Divine
Sept 14, 2020 | By Sharla Moody BK ‘22
Upon the first viewing, Tintoretto’s Last Supper is wholly disorienting. The painting is a conglomeration of people, color, and mystery grouped under a title that immediately ties it to da Vinci’s older, more famous depiction of the same event. But Tintoretto imagines a less formal, more enigmatic scene. Like da Vinci’s painting, Christ is still central, but the rest of the painting crowds in on all sides, overwhelming the eye and mind. There are angels! And a cat! And so many people!
WONDERFUL CREATURES: An Interview with Marilynne Robinson
Sept 14, 2020 | By Raquel Sequeira TD ‘21+.5
“If you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle…It’s your existence I love you for, mainly.”
– Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Upcoming Events:
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Weekly Meetings
THURSDAYS 5-7PM, Branford College Trumbull Room
Discuss with us what it means to think Christianly and write for our publication.
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Philosophy of Everyday Life Seminar
THURSDAY SEPT 11TH 6:15-7:45PM, Elm Institute
Join us at the Elm Institute for a private version of the Elm’s popular seminar “The Philosophy of Everyday Life”. Readings will be focused on Friendship. No prior reading required. Food provided.
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Divinity School Private Archival Tour
THURSDAY SEPT 18th, 9AM, Yale Divinity School
We will be looking at the Yale Divinity School’s missionary collection, specifically focusing on letters from international ecumenical movements from America to China. We will be looking at how these relate to our theme of freidnship in a more nuanced way. We will be walking up from cross-campus at 8:30 am, but you can also meet at the YDS gates at 9 am.
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William Blake Private Exhibition Tour
THURSDAY OCT 2ND, TIME TBA
Peter Wicks of the Elm Institute will guide us through the traveling exhibition ‘William Blake: Burning Bright’ at Yale Center for British Art. No previous experience with art or William Blake required.