Search Our Writing:
Climate Despair and Our Death Wish
January 20, 2022 | By Sharla Moody BK ‘22
Water surges past the Statue of Liberty’s waist, empties into the crowded rush hour streets of Manhattan. Cars, trucks, and buses surf on the wall of filthy water bearing down on terrified bystanders. The sky erupts with hail the size of basketballs, indiscriminately falling on people frantically running to take shelter. Enormous tornados engulf entire skyscrapers in Los Angeles, spitting rubble down onto screaming bystanders, the carnage raining down beyond any Old Testament judgment.
Heaven Is a Place on Earth?
December 31, 2021 | By Sharla Moody BK ‘22
The science fiction of the first half of the twentieth century appears much more optimistic than what we see today. This optimistic sci-fi can perhaps be best exemplified by Hanna-Barbera’s 1962-1963 cartoon The Jetsons, which imagines what life might be like in the year 2062. The Jetsons drive a flying car, live in an ultra modern city built in Earth’s atmosphere, and exist as a happy nuclear family.
How Could Immortality Be Good?
December 31, 2021 | By Shayley Martin DC ‘22
In books and movies, immortality is generally a bad thing. We watch characters strive for it only to discover that life goes sour if prolonged. Even aside from practical issues like overpopulation and resource depletion, there’s a prevailing idea that human nature can’t stomach living forever. The end of a Netflix series called The Good Place captures this well: the occupants of paradise become so bored with the afterlife’s never-ending stream of pleasures that they rejoice when finally offered a chance to vanish from existence. The show concludes that fleetingness gives life its meaning.
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.
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.