"Reading the morning newspaper is the realist's morning prayer."-G. W. F. Hegel Whenever we reach for our phones or scan a newspaper to get "caught up," we are being not merely informed but also formed. News consumption can shape our sense of belonging, how we judge the value of our lives, and even how our brains function. Christians mustn't let the news replace prayer as Hegel envisioned, but neither should we simply discard the daily feed. We need a better understanding of what the news is for and how to read it well. Jeffrey Bilbro invites readers to take a step back and gain some theological and historical perspective on the nature and very purpose of news. In Reading the Times he reflects on how we pay attention, how we discern the nature of time and history, and how we form communities through what we read and discuss. Drawing on writers from Thoreau and Dante to Merton and Berry, along with activist-journalists such as Frederick Douglass and Dorothy Day, Bilbro offers an alternative vision of the rhythms of life, one in which we understand our times in light of what is timeless. Throughout, he suggests practices to counteract common maladies tied to media consumption in order to cultivate healthier ways of reading and being. When the news sets itself up as the light of the world, it usurps the role of the living Word. But when, it helps us attend together to the work of Christ-down through history and within our daily contexts-it can play a vital part in enabling us to love our neighbors. Reading the Times is a refreshing and humane call to put the news in its place.
"Jeffrey Bilbro's Reading the Times makes a compelling sweep of material, technological, and philosophical history, helping Christians ask pressing contemporary questions: How do we attend faithfully to the news? To what political, moral,social, and spiritual ends do we scroll Twitter, check Facebook, and scan the morning headlines? Attention deficit, hyperpartisanship, and misinformation are familiar problems in our current media landscape, but Bilbro goes beyond these standard diagnoses. In the Augustinian tradition, he examines not just media consumption but media appetite. I find his work both practical and prophetic: one foot in chronos, one in kairos, Bilbro begs us to fight for better media habits and rightly ordered media loves. I hope people will gather together around these pages and attend to them slowly, prayerfully, resolutely."
Jen Pollock Michel, author of A Habit Called Faith and Surprised by Paradox
"There may not be any greater need in this moment-for both the church and the larger culture-than a practical theology of the news. Reading the Times is a book that addresses a discipleship crisis of our day. It may be a generation too late, but it's not a moment too soon."
Karen Swallow Prior, author of On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books
