Taking Things Deeper | God Hasn't Left the Continent | Suffering as Existential Thrill: The Galli Report

Taking Things Deeper | God Hasn’t Left the Continent | Suffering as Existential Thrill | [View online]( [Give Now]( Advertisement [The Galli Report]( [Home]( [Podcast]( [Subscribe]( Friday, March 30, 2018 Taking Things Deeper Today is one of the highest holy days for Christians, so readers of GR are most likely setting aside some time for reflection and maybe attending a service or two. Here are a few fine articles in CT to help you get the day and this week in focus. Forgive me if I point to my own article first: [“What Dostoyevsky’s Prostitute Can Teach Us About the Cross: Crime, punishment, and Christ’s easy yoke.”]( I’ll defend the choice not because of anything I said but because of Dostoyevsky’s genius. [“The Palms, the Temple, and the Nations”]( comments on a little-noticed line (at least not often noticed by me) that Jesus used when he overturned the tables in the Temple. Annunciation Day fell on Palm Sunday this year, and this piece, [“Mother Mary Is a Sanctuary—and So Are We,”]( arouses in me this week a desire to take things deeper. Check out the CT website, because we’ve been putting up Holy Week pieces all week. God Hasn’t Left the Continent Speaking of spiritual renewal, apparently there are signs of it taking place in, of all places, “secular” Europe. See [“Reports Of Christianity’s Death In Europe Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.”]( It’s too early to tell if this is a blip or a trend, but it’s encouraging as far as it goes. (Hat tip to Sue I.) Suffering as Existential Thrill A dedication of a different sort is narrated in [“Alone at Sea: Why He Kayaked Across the Atlantic at 70 (for the Third Time).”]( This short excerpt will explain why I thought this an appropriate link for Holy Week: Kayaking is an absurd form of long-distance ocean travel. All the big muscles in the body are useless. “A real katorga,” says [Aleksander] Doba, who is Polish—katorga being the Polish word for forced labor in Siberia. But by katorga, Doba does not mean an activity he does not wish to do. What most of us experience as suffering he repurposes as contrarian self-determination, and that gives him an existential thrill. Among Doba’s bigger regrets in life are the times when he has succumbed, when he has perceived and reacted to suffering in conventional ways. … Grace and peace, [Mark Galli] [Mark Galli] [Mark Galli](mailto:GalliReport@christianitytoday.com) Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today Advertisement More from Christianity Today [Taste and See That the Lord’s Supper Is Good]( Theology [Taste and See That the Lord’s Supper Is Good]( A biblical understanding of food whets our appetite for the fullness of the Lord's Supper on Maundy Thursday. Peter Leithart [Read More]( [Mother Mary Is a Sanctuary—and So Are We]( [Women]( [Mother Mary Is a Sanctuary—and So Are We]( Annunciation Day invites us to be vessels of Christ in the world. Christiana Peterson [Read More]( [Two Marches for Lives]( [Speaking Out]( [Two Marches for Lives]( What I saw at two very different protests of violence against children. Andrew Unger [Read More]( [View All of our Latest]( In the magazine [Remembering Billy Graham - April]( [Cover Story]( [How a Humble Evangelist Changed Christianity As We Know It]( Churches were divided. Believers eschewed cultural influence. Liberal modernism was on the move. Then God made Billy Graham. [Lead Us Not Into Scandal]( [Rick Warren: What I Learned from Billy]( [View Full Issue]( [Subscribe Now]( Related Newsletters [CT Books Newsletter](ctbooks/subscribe.html) Each issue contains up-to-date, insightful information about today’s culture, plus analysis of books important to the evangelical thinker. [Sign Up Now](ctbooks/subscribe.html) [Christianity Today Connection Newsletter](connection/subscribe.html) Get the inside story with this official newsletter of the global media ministry. [Sign Up Now](connection/subscribe.html) Advertisement Follow Us: [Follow on Facebook]( [Follow on Twitter]( [RSS]( Want to stay informed but a little short on free time? Try The Galli Report, a weekly newsletter giving you 5 must-read articles for thought leaders handpicked by CT Editor Mark Galli. The Galli Report Delivered free via email to subscribers Weekly. [Subscribe]( to this newsletter. You are currently subscribed as {EMAIL}. [Subscribe]( to more newsletters like this. Manage your [email preferences]( or [unsubscribe](. Copyright ©2018 Christianity Today 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188 All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy]( | [Advertise]( | [Subscribe to CT]( | [Give Now]( Christianity Today is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.