Jonathan Simcoe

“Story of our species,” Malcolm said, laughing. “Everybody knows it’s coming, but not so soon.”

Too often I look for my desires to be met in God’s good gifts rather than in God himself. I don’t want to dismiss the wonderful things I have received from his hand, just as David is not minimizing the value of green pastures and quiet waters. Still, there is an infinite qualitative difference between the gifts and the Giver; between the green

Well, if that is the job then I must do it. But I would dearly like to see Bywater again, and Rosie Cotton and her brothers, and the Gaffer and Marigold and all.

Many Christians and non-Christians experience the presence of evil but do not have the categories to evaluate the experience, let alone be set free from their presence.

No more debates disturbed his mind. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set, and only death would break it.

It is Beren the outlawed mortal who succeeds (with the help of Lúthien, a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty) where all the armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and wrests one of the Silmarilli from the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Lúthien and the first marriage of mortal and immortal is achieved.

Commander Ghani* has just provided a vivid summation of the Pashtun principles of nang (honor), ghairat (pride), and badal (revenge), which—along with a fourth concept, melmastia (hospitality)—account for the most important tenets in an unwritten, overarching code of behavior known as Pashtunwali that has shaped culture and identity in this part of

The same goes for gods. Some gods, like a chair, are clearly recognized for their god-ness. The word “god” brings to mind deities like Ra in Egypt, Zeus in Greece, and Ganesh in India. But there are many other things that are not gods but may nonetheless function as gods just as a box may function as a chair. Strictly speaking, power, wealth, fame,