Productivity

I'm reading Jim Wallis's new book and hoping that members of the media are, too.  It did seem to me toward the end of the last election that there was a sudden collective, albeit limited, recognition on the part of the august fourth estate that the far right wing of the Republican party does not have a lock on the Christian faith.  Early on in the book, Mr. Wallis notes a reporter's comment  that he had always reported religion from the point of view of the "right" simply because it had the loudest voice.  I think that many reporters, who are themselves on the whole a notoriously secular group, have been surprised to discover that there are vast numbers of deeply faithful Christians whose views are much at odds with the current administration.  Anyway, there's nothing much new in the book for those who share the thoughts that Jim Wallis has been articulating for years in Sojourners, but it's a useful compendium for those who have relied entirely on the mainstream media for their understanding of the Christian message and the people who try to live it.

I'm also reading one of those sweeping historical novels that I find so absorbing when I have a to-do list a mile long.  I am weeks behind in grading student assignments, I don't have that chilled wine in the frig that I mentioned a few entries back -- not to mention the shining floors, clear windows, clear counters and organized stacks -- and I have to do reams of research on the dome of St. Peter's for my own class -- so naturally I am about to go back to bed to curl up with a saga that begins in the land of the druids and is going to take me forward about 1000 years.

A friend is IMing me, trying to get me to go for a walk, and the phone that I can't find is ringing, so I think I'll go back to bed and read.