Weekly Wrapped - 5/26

gospel music, beach reads & Tim Keller

Welcome to another installment of Weekly Wrapped.

If you are new here, this is basically like virtually grabbing a cup of coffee with me and I share with you about everything I am reading, watching and thinking about. Rather than avoiding anything stained by the world, here at Jenna’s Column, we seek to find glimpses of the good in all things.

I post every Monday and alternate between these recommendation posts and longer form pieces about Gen Z and faith. Subscribe to stay tuned!

First order of business, I have decided to sell out (put a paywall on some of my work).

I had a NPR approach to paywalls for my work (not having any) but after realizing that each week I was pouring in more than a dozen hours each week on my posts (I am usually working on my long-form pieces for two weeks each and am always working on my upcoming curation posts) I realized I should give people the option to support me!

I am a business tycoon!

Here is a quick summary of the changes:

Paid subs will get:

• Weekly devotional posts (here is the lastest one, free subs have access for this first one for the summer!)

• Access to all of my work in the archives!

• 2 additional long-form pieces per month (starting in June!)

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• Access to my long-form articles for four weeks before they go into the archive (paywall)

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I hope you will consider financially partnering with me to support me and my work. For less than a cup of coffee, you can access all of my work at any time. After a year of developing my voice and craft on here, along with establishing credibility and consistently, I hope you will invest in me!

Particularly as I enter graduate school soon this Fall, I will continue to have a fuller schedule, balancing more and more assignments, on top of working a full-time job. In order to make this page sustainable, I needed to pivot.

How it feels trying to convince you to be a paid sub (I love this episode so much)

With all that being said…I am excited to dive into this weeks weekly wrapped!

Writing

Articles, Substack Posts/Notes & Poems that I want to show you!

The Witch Trials of Tim Keller

Tim Keller is one of my favorite writers and thinkers. It’s been nearly two years as I am writing this since Keller passed away.

As evangelicalism in America has continued to diverge further into extremes, I mourn his winsome, compelling approach to evangelizing in one of the most secular cities in the world, NYC. Since his death, there has been conversation about his approach and how it may be too ‘gentle’ or ‘empathetic’ and not enough to meaningfully address social issues. There is much I could say here about evangelicals veering toward American triumphalism, but people smarter than me (including the author of this piece) are saying this better, so I will put a cap on it there.

In short, I think they are wrong. This idea that our battles need to be won with the fruits of the flesh rather than of the spirit is — to use a word that these triumphalists love to wield loosely — unbiblical. Keller was very solid theologically and very tenderhearted. The writer of the piece, Daniel at Doctoral Discipleship, does a fantastic job of making a case for why Keller is a great role model for all Christians, but particularly for young men who are falling into a Doug Wilson kind of Christianity and less like a Jesus-y one.

Moreover, Keller’s concept of Third Wayism has often been misrepresented. It’s frequently framed as an attempt to avoid cultural or political binaries by seeking a middle ground, a kind of moderate alternative to the extremes. But this isn’t how Keller understood or articulated his approach. His goal wasn’t to chart a novel, centrist path, but to return to a biblical framework that transcends partisan categories.

AI Porn Is Covetousness

Artifical Intelligence is getting weird. Dr. Timothy Pickavance explores this phenomenon in his latest piece with Christianity Today. I was lucky enough to have Pickavance (as he is known to his students) for a professor in college. I love reading his work because he seamlessly integrates thoughtful philosophy and theology, with real-life. His reporting here on how pornography is a form of covetness, along with his commentary on AI’s beginnings in porn is thoughtful and worth your time to read!

In particular, AI porn amplifies the reciprocal dynamic between the sin of covetousness and porn—because covetousness is a kind of fantasy. When we covet, we project ourselves into alternative worlds that revolve around our own desires.

He even commentator against this idea that AI-generated pornography is somehow more ethical than the kind that is made in person.

Meanwhile, some companies like OpenAI are suggesting that the path to “ethical” porn goes through generative AI. If all porn were produced this way, the thought goes, no one would be harmed in making it. Porn users could get what they want without the human costs.

You can also check out his substack, Tim Pickavance.

Reading

Books I recently read or am reading (sometimes a review) and a recommendation from my library. Let’s be friends on GoodReads!

Currently Reading

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton

I literally do not have words to describe this book. It feels like my brain is growing 10x its size (I love it!) It does make me feel like a slight idiot because I often have to re-read what he is saying to really get it, but for it being published in 1908 it is much more readable than I initially expected.

I am also still reading The Screwtape Letters and The Atlas Six!

Read

Hello Summer by Mary Kay Andrews

There is a genre of books I can only describe as ‘beach books.’ Even if the book is not set at the beach, the vibes are simply: beach. These books I reserve for warm days (which are most days here in SoCal) by the water (pool or beach). My mother-in-law and I share an affinity for these books, particularly if they are penned by Elin Hilderbrand.

I have had a harder time finding books like this that do not include a hefty amount of spice (sex), so if you have any recommendations, please do share. This one has some, but it is limited which I appreciate!

I enjoyed this read, but would not particularly recommend it (???) It follows a journalist going home to save her hometown newspaper and solve a murder and fall in love which was very enjoyable to read. I definitely liked it and would recommend it maybe as a library book that you read while you sip a margarita by the pool, but maybe don’t spend $20 on it?

Recommendation

Educated by Tara Westover

This book is thoroughly hyped and for good reason. It follows a young woman throughout her life in a fundamentalist Mormon family and how she manages to escape and educate herself. It is a phenomenal read and one I think about at all the time. I usually do not love memoirs but this one is fascinating and will give you so much to think about. Highly recommend!

Appreciating

Mostly music and movies. Let’s be friends on LetterBoxd.

I am not sure what your relationship to worship music is. Maybe you love it and it is a key way that you connect with God. Or maybe CCM makes you feel weird and makes you remember that one worship pastor that had a moral failure. I don’t know where you land. But, I bet that you would enjoy my worship playlist wherever you are at!

I love gospel music, particularly by Black Christians, but I also love classic hymns too. This playlist is full of a mix of those two, with many of them being by Elvis. These worship songs have carried me through the last year and have been a really great way for me to connect with the Lord. I encourage you to give it a listen if you want to switch it up!

Pondering

Stuff I can’t stop thinking about (the most random section)

I am working on a piece right now about Ecclesiasties and how the writer’s observations about wisdom and what the ‘good life’ is resonates with the Gen Z nihilism we are seeing today.

My hope is to connect the two and find ways for us to connect to young folks today through the “everything is meaningless” language we see in this book. Rather than saying “everything happens for a reason,” leaning into suffering and injustice may be the way to the hearts of Gen Z.

I would love to hear if you have any thoughts about this, as I always do!

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Your friend,