You might be saying, about now, that it\u2019s all too common to fetishize \u201cquestioning\u201d and belittle solid faith. I agree. But the assertion about white evangelicals goes well beyond that; it\u2019s a dehumanizing caricature. And that is what made me think of Percy\u2019s essay:<\/p>\n
Why do young people look so sad, the very young who, seeing how sad their elders are, have sought a new life of joy and freedom with each other and in the green fields and forests, but who instead of finding joy look even sadder than their elders?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Around the end of this year, my friend Dan Taylor (that\u2019s Daniel W. Taylor to you, bud) has a novel coming from Slant Books,\u00a0The Mystery of Iniquity<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s a terrific book. Dan (who taught at Bethel University in Saint Paul for decades) has \u201cquestions\u201d; he also has faith. The same is true, as Joseph Ratzinger observed in his superb\u00a0Introduction to Christianity<\/a><\/em>, of \u201cunbelievers,\u201d who wonder whether they are wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cQuestioning,\u201d of course, isn\u2019t evenly distributed. Those of us less beset by \u201cquestions\u201d than some others have no reason to brag, nor can we assume it will always be thus. Which reminds me of another of Percy\u2019s questions: \u201cWhy does it make a man feel better to read a book about a man like himself feeling bad?\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWhy does it make a man feel better to read a book about a man like himself feeling bad?\u201d –Walker Percyhttps:\/\/t.co\/5uQWdBrcoC<\/a><\/p>\n
— First Things (@firstthingsmag) November 8, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n