Three decades ago wordsmith Philip Yancey turned theological reflections by Dr. Paul Brand, an innovator in treating leprosy, into two short books. Last year, InterVarsity Press combined the two into one book, Fearfully and Wonderfully. Brand brilliantly describes how human traits decried by evolutionists—why does God have us feel so much pain?—are actually lifesavers. Here’s part of Chapter 1, courtesy of InterVarsity Press and Hodder & Stoughton.

A few years ago, John R. Erickson shared some tales of puzzling behaviors he has observed in animals over his years as a rancher. He noted that British scientist Rupert Sheldrake, in his book Dogs that Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home and Other Unexplained Powers of Animals, combined stories from many animal owners suggesting that there’s still much we don’t understand about the creatures who live alongside us—be they domestic or wild.

Some evangelicals go with David Barton’s contention that America’s 18th-century founders wanted an explicitly Christian nation. Others seize on Mark Noll’s skepticism. Mark David Hall’s Did America Have a Christian Founding? is in the middle: Hall views many founders as Christian and others not, but the Constitution and other early documents certainly emerged from a Biblical worldview. Here’s an excerpt that summarizes Hall’s perspective, courtesy of Thomas Nelson.

I’ve put together this Saturday Series piece before knowing the election results, but no matter what happens we’ll see lots of teeth-gnashing. That’s why I’ve moved up to now what I first planned as a December pre-Christmas special: Even though Christmas is still almost seven weeks away, we need to pay attention to what’s crucial rather than what’s ephemeral. So here are four columns—from 2002, 2005, 2007, and 2010—that may help us to concentrate our mind and spirit.

Today is Reformation Day, marking the 503rd anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, jumpstarting the Protestant Reformation. In July, we lost another great Protestant theologian, J.I. Packer. But praise God his decades of work remain with us.

Veteran journalist Seth J. Frantzman writes the kind of first-hand accounts of terror-strewn battlefields that once set apart top American periodicals, before they devolved into political rags. The American-born author lives in Israel, where he is the OpEd editor for The Jerusalem Post and a Middle East analyst covering the region.

Many of our readers have told us how much they appreciate the writings of John R. Erickson, the author of the popular Hank the Cowdog series of children’s books. Over the past few months, thanks to the University of North Texas Press, WORLD has published as part of our Saturday Series chapters from his Through Time and the Valley. The book, first published in 1978, recounts Erickson’s journey in 1972 on horseback through the Texas Panhandle’s isolated Canadian River valley.