Discovery Institute

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Olasky Books

Five Fine History Books

The best biography I’ve read the past year is Elizabeth Varon’s Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South (Simon & Schuster, 2023). Robert E. Lee saw northern victory resulting from a brutal turning of soldiers into cannon fodder, and did not admit that slavery was wrong. But James Longstreet, Lee’s right hand after Stonewall Jackson died, joined the Republican Read More ›

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Pivot Points

Whenever we pivot in life, freedom from fear requires either a colossal ego or a colossal God. Ego leads us to grab what is not ours. The path to contentment starts with faith in God. In this sequel to Lament for a Father, Marvin Olasky first describes his journey from Judaism to atheism to Marxism to Christ and then his adventures in evangelical, conservative, Read More ›

Building for cultural revolution with John West_Coram Deo Church_2024

John West to Speak on Christianity’s Role in Cultural Reformation

Coram Deo Church of Bremerton, WA will host Discovery Institute Vice President John G. West as he presents on the role of Christianity in cultural reformation on Tuesday night, March 12. Guests are encouraged to register in advance, as space is limited. From the organizers: Is American culture in a death spiral? If so, what can the church do about Read More ›

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Black History Month Books

Frederick Douglass after his escape from slavery wrote three terrific autobiographies, including My Bondage and My Freedom (1855), which since 2010 has been reprinted at least eight times by various publishers. Far less known is the escape from Georgia to Boston of enslaved Ellen and William Craft in 1848: She could pass for white and disguised herself as a wealthy Read More ›

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What You Are Looking For is In the Library

In this newsletter I mostly review nonfiction, but on a wintry night many people want to snuggle up with a novel. Here are four suggestions, starting with Michiko Aoyama’s What You Are Looking For is In the Library (Alison Watts translation, Doubleday, 2023). It’s a charming tale from Japan of people searching for change and getting the nudge they need Read More ›

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The Magician’s Twin: Eric Metaxas and John West Explore C.S. Lewis and Scientism in Seattle on Feb. 8

What can we learn from C.S. Lewis about the growing misuse of science to attack God and support authoritarianism? Join bestselling author and talk show host Eric Metaxas as he explores this topic and more with C.S. Lewis expert and Discovery Institute Vice President John West in Seattle on Feb. 8. This live event is part of Metaxas’s Socrates in the City series — conversations that Read More ›

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C.S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society

The C.S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society will explore the growing impact of science on politics, economics, social policy, bioethics, theology, and the arts during the past century. The program is named after celebrated British writer C.S. Lewis, a perceptive critic of both scientism and technocracy in books such as The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength. Topics to be addressed include Read More ›

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International Seminar on Intelligent Design

Historically, the Summer Seminar program organized by the Center for Science & Culture has included two seminars offered concurrently: the Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences, designed for students and professionals in the natural sciences and the history and philosophy of science, and the C.S. Lewis Fellows Program on Science and Society, designed primarily for students and professionals in the Read More ›

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Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences

The CSC Seminar on Intelligent Design in the Natural Sciences will prepare participants to make research contributions advancing the growing science of intelligent design (ID). The seminar will explore cutting-edge ID work in fields such as molecular biology, biochemistry, embryology, developmental biology, paleontology, computational biology, ID-theoretic mathematics, cosmology, physics, and the history and philosophy of science. The seminar will include presentations Read More ›

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China’s dictatorship, America’s democracy

I almost always focus on recent books, but this month I want to mention one from 2014 that’s received new life because of—to quote last month’s University World News headline—“Dismay over university’s sacking of scholar denied a visa.” Rowena Xiaoqing He, author of Tiananmen Exiles: Voices of the Struggle for Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan), currently lives in Austin and until recently Read More ›