Every Image of the Solar System You’ve Ever Seen Is Inaccurate
Because, planets, it turns out, are microscopic compared to the distances between them, which are pretty much impossible to represent in an image. So, yep, you guessed it, we’re going to offer a model that is accurate—and beautiful cinematography to frame it all. Prepare to feel small. And then go back and read Mark Galli’s essay again.
Speaking of Whales
This issue’s whale fall essay and poem point to the incredible ways whales can serve their ecosystems, even in their death. Enjoy also this lovely Memory Palacepoem/podcast considering what it might be like to be an aging bowhead whale. And this video of humpback whales playing under the Aurora Borealis off the coast of Norway. Okay. We’ll stop there. As you might expect for a magazine called The Behemoth, we could do whale stuff all day long.
Doodling in Church: Allowed
We may have been raised on the idea that “God’s house” demands a level of respect that does not make much room for play—no running, no shouting. But according to Christian illustrator John Hendrix, play is at act of worship.
Kids play all the time—it’s their work. For adults, play is very difficult. Sitting down and having fun and trying to enjoy that act of creation—that’s an act of worship. That’s what God was doing when he made things. That’s something I try to cultivate.
And it’s to our great benefit that he does this weekly, doodling along with the sermon. He shares some of these illustrations in a new book—and in a subsequent Christianity Today feature you don’t want to miss.
Botanical Bats
Looking at this collection of “vanity shots” of bats, we couldn’t help thinking how their noses and ears, intricately folded and whimsically shaped, resemble plant life. “Your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Ps. 139:14).
