YEAR-END CHALLENGE
Unmerited mercy
Marvin Olasky’s multi-part biographical series chronicling his progression from card-carrying Communist to Bible-carrying Christian, his years in academia, his involvement in welfare reform, and his present position as WORLD's editor in chief.
The first 10 episodes are available in a book, Unmerited Mercy: A Memoir, 1968-1996.
Episode 1: The graduate
In 1968 I headed down a path that began with low-rent existentialism and took me all the way to Communism
Episode 2: After 1968
The elites showered applause on a young radical in 1970, but the kudos prompted only resentment
Episode 3: Deeper into sin
A misguided search for meaning led a young radical to the Communist Party in 1972
Episode 4: Crying out
Is seeing believing? Or does believing lead to seeing?
Episode 5: God doesn't give up
Exodus 13: “When in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery’”
Episode 6: Madness centered on God
Fighting communism, and my own impetuousness
Episode 7: Inside Oz
Learning about the politics of big business, and what “an honest day’s work” might come to mean
Episode 8: A new front in the war
Moving from the politics of corporate America to the politics of academic America, and trying to publish so as not to perish
Episode 9: Thy will be done
With opportunity in academia and media came great challenges and great satisfaction
Episode 10: Whose darling?
Finding my way home after weird times in Washington
Episode 11: More unmerited mercy
Battling against ideologies that mistranslate the Bible, kill neighborhoods, and hurt students. Not so often battling against my own pride
Episode 12: Saved by God’s Gollums
Reporters on an ideological warpath mercifully cut short my yearning for the Inner Ring
Episode 13: D.C. city limits
The death and life of compassionate conservatism: While a treasured idea became a mess in Washington, it flourished at a small school in Austin
Episode 14: Back to the journalist’s lane
Exposing scandal takes perseverance and fortitude, but seeing our corruption leads to seeing God’s grace
Episode 15: How to decide to move
To go or not to go? That was the question—but deciding wasn’t scientific
Episode 16: Course reversal
A short story, a grand canyon, and a 180-degree turn to the realization that not a college falls to earth apart from the will of our heavenly Father
Episode 17: Where I come from
The lasting influences of my grandfather, mother, and father
Episode 18: Diamonds in the Shadowlands
As a new baseball season begins, a personal reflection of the past 50-plus
Episode 19: The riddle of Isaac
Genesis 22 has a pro-life subtext, and missing it has led to a multitude of religious errors
Episode 20: Summing up with some sums
You can count on numbers to tell the stories of our lives
