How Old Books Help Us Live in an Anxious Time
September 16, 2020
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Our time is characterized by information overload, hot takes, and a preoccupation with the immediate. What’s more, there seems to be a growing consensus that history needs to be left behind—that the past has nothing to teach us. In this moment, why read old books? What, if anything, can we learn from the voices of the past?
Watch a conversation on these questions with Alan Jacobs, Elizabeth Corey, and Paul Gutacker in honor of the recent release of Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a More Tranquil Mind (order here). |
In this his latest book, Dr. Jacobs suggests that listening to the past offers wisdom we didn’t know we needed—and might even help us live less anxiously. Here’s a sneak preview of the book's argument by Dr. Jacobs.
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Dr. Alan Jacobs is Distinguished Professor of Humanities in the Honors Program at Baylor University, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.
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Dr. Elizabeth Corey is Honors Program Director and Associate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, and serves on the Brazos Fellows advisory board.
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Sponsored by Brazos Fellows, Baylor’s Honors College, and Baylor in Washington.
podcast: 5 questions in 10 minutes
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Listen to Brazos Fellows' instructors answer rapid-fire questions on theology, good books, and more.
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lectures
Experience great teaching from some of our guest speakers.
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Achievement and the Christian Life
Elizabeth Corey What is a valuable human life? What role does achievement play in that life? Can the life of love coexist with the quest for achievement, or do they conflict? Dr. Elizabeth Corey considers these questions in a talk given at Anglican Student Ministries’ evensong in February, 2019. |
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Evangelicals and the Rise of Natural Ethics
Bruce Hindmarsh Can you be good without God? Prof. Bruce Hindmarsh explores this question of moral philosophy in the context it first arose–the eighteenth century. He explains how early evangelicals gave a different account of human nature in contrast to the Enlightenment. Lecture co-hosted by Brazos Fellows and the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. |
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The Common Good – Does it Amount to a Political Programme?
Oliver O'Donovan What does the “common good" mean, and does it require that Christians pursue a particular political agenda? Oliver O’Donovan, a leading political theologian, reflects on the prospects and limits of appealing to the “common good” in our fractured society and political life. |
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The Spirituality of Time
Sarah Williams How can an awareness of time influence our spiritual and devotional lives, our sense of calling, and our identity as Christians in a post-modern consumer society? In this talk, Sarah Williams explores the idea of finitude as a key to living with faith, intentional focus, and prophetic direction in an age characterized by a loss of history. Lecture hosted by Anglican Student Ministries in the Drawing Room of Memorial Hall, Baylor University. |
reflections from the community
featured blog posts
Rational Wonder: The Brazos Fellows and the Early Christian Catechetical Schools (guest post by Alex Fogleman)
"As a student of early Christianity, and particularly the history of catechesis, I am struck by the parallels of the Brazos Fellows with the early Christian “catechetical schools”—particularly those associated with one of the greatest theologians and biblical scholars of the early church, Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185–251)."
"As a student of early Christianity, and particularly the history of catechesis, I am struck by the parallels of the Brazos Fellows with the early Christian “catechetical schools”—particularly those associated with one of the greatest theologians and biblical scholars of the early church, Origen of Alexandria (ca. 185–251)."
Learning to be Lonely (guest post by Jess Schurz)
"Reading the desert fathers and mothers, I was struck by how starkly their enterprise contrasts my reaction to loneliness, which oscillated between two extremes. The first was to flee from loneliness with great haste, through whatever means of distraction were available and appropriate. The second was carrying loneliness like a millstone on my back, all the while fostering the great “pride of despair.” The actions of the ascetics confront both of these. The fathers and mothers went into the desert with the intent of sanctification.
"Reading the desert fathers and mothers, I was struck by how starkly their enterprise contrasts my reaction to loneliness, which oscillated between two extremes. The first was to flee from loneliness with great haste, through whatever means of distraction were available and appropriate. The second was carrying loneliness like a millstone on my back, all the while fostering the great “pride of despair.” The actions of the ascetics confront both of these. The fathers and mothers went into the desert with the intent of sanctification.
Ars Moriendi (guest post by Savannah Anne Carmen)
"We need to be mindful of our finitude. [...] We are dust, and to dust we shall return. But not without hope. We await the resurrection of the body, when, as Dame Julian of Norwich says, 'all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.'"
"We need to be mindful of our finitude. [...] We are dust, and to dust we shall return. But not without hope. We await the resurrection of the body, when, as Dame Julian of Norwich says, 'all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.'"