Really Recommended Posts 3/14/14- “Cosmos,” The Monuments Men, C.S. Lewis, and more!

Here, I have compiled a kind of special edition of the “Really Recommended Posts.” We first focus on a number of critical responses to the first episode of “Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.” It seems to me the episode did some pretty shoddy history and also made any number of metaphysical claims. After that, we look at some more extremely interesting posts which focus on educating children in the faith, literature as a way to discover meaning, and the film “The Monuments Men.” As always, I’d love to read your thoughts on these posts.

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey

Cosmos, Giordano Bruno, and Getting it Right– A brief but incisive critique of a number of major historical errors made throughout the first episode.

Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Same Old Product, Bright New Packaging-  In this post, Casey Luskin takes on the notion that science and religion are at war alongside some other errors in the episode.

Is there any science in the new “Cosmos” series, or is it all naturalistic religion?– Wintery Knight takes on the episode for making a bunch of claims without evidence.

Cosmos Revives the Scientific Martyr Myth of Giordano Bruno– “[T]he materialist bias of the producers, editors, and writers of Cosmos is so complete that they couldn’t be bothered even to check Wikipedia.” Yep. Check out this incisive critique of the way Bruno was presented in the episode.

Cosmos: Episode I Recap and Review– I give an overview of the episode and critique it for making rather poor metaphysical and historical assertions instead of presenting more observational evidence.

More Great Reads

The Number One Sign Your Kids Are Just Borrowing Your Faith– Natasha Crain shares some interesting thoughts on how to better develop the faith of your children. Here, she looks into the possibility that your kids may just be borrowing your faith.

Be Careful What You Read… C.S. Lewis’ literary encounter with George MacDonald– The ways in which literature can shape one’s thoughts are astounding. Here, the impact of literature on C.S. Lewis’ conversion is explored.

The Monuments Men: A dialectic not to be ignored– The film “The Monuments Men” has rather mediocre reviews overall. However, Max Andrews over at Sententias points out that the film’s emphasis on the importance of identifying and preserving art and beauty may hint at greater things. Check out his interesting thoughts on the topic.