Brett McCracken's Blog

New Book! ‘Scrolling Ourselves to Death’

My new book project is now available: Scrolling Ourselves to Death: Reclaiming Life in a Digital Age.

Published in partnership with TGC and Crossway, the book is an edited volume (co-edited by Ivan Mesa and myself) which marks the 40th anniversary of Neil Postman’s 1985 classic, Amusing Ourselves to Death by applying Postman’s thinking about media/technology to the digital age.

Ivan and I enlisted 13 other contributors to help Christians and church leaders think carefully about the spiritual haza...

Favorites of 2024

What were your favorite books, music, and movies this year? Here are mine.

Favorite Books

Much of my reading year was dedicated to research-related books for my own next writing project (to be published by Zondervan Reflective in 2026). Still, I managed to read 42 books this year, most of which I enjoyed. Below are my favorite reads of the year, divided between 2024-released new books and books that came out in other years (but which I read in 2024):

10 FAVORITE BOOKS RELEASED IN 2024

Jonathan Haidt...

If Time Were a Mansion

If time were a mansion, the first day of summer would be a covered, wraparound front porch. 

The place in the house to take in the sunset and golden-hour magic; to sit in a rocking chair and hear the sounds of crickets and cicadas, laughing children and the neighbor's sprinklers. 

The place where safety could mingle with danger and a rollicking thunderstorm could be seen and heard up close, wind gusts carrying in sheets of rain just moist enough to be thrilling. 

The place where, at dawn, the pierc...

Baseball, Orange Blossoms, and Whispers of Summer

Mid March, halfway through Lent. Hobby Lobby shelves a pastel bouquet of Easter kitsch. Target aisles stocked with Reeses bunnies and Cadbury eggs. The sun’s more concentrated rays stir the listless to life in the slumbering ground. 

In our California backyard, a soggy winter gives way to blooming calla lilies, daisies, trumpet vines, bougainvillea, azaleas, and just about anything else we put in dirt. Bees swarm around our blueberry bushes to pollinate the newly blossoming buds. Anna hummingbird...

Favorites of 2023

There is a temptation in the modern age—where we can fill our ears and eyes with media at every spare moment—to over-due it. Too much of a good thing, after all, is a bad thing. I often struggle with this, because there is always another great book to read, another excellent movie to watch, and so forth. In light of that challenge, I appreciate lists and curators who can help us prioritize quality over quantity: sifting through the glut so not everyone has to.

To that end, here are my favorites ...

Traveling With Little Kids: 15 Tips

Summer is approaching and families are making vacation plans. If you’re a dad of young kids like me, the thought of an ambitious road trip or elaborate vacation to an exotic locale might sound stressful. From screaming toddlers in the backseat to incessant “are we there yet?” impatience, interrupted sleep schedules, emergency potty stops, and all manner of other chaos, you might think a daring family travel adventure is unwise and not worth it. I’d challenge you to reconsider.

My wife and I trave...

Read Josh Butler’s ‘Beautiful Union.’ It’s an Important Book.

Note: I’m speaking for myself here, not on behalf of The Gospel Coalition (my employer and a ministry I care deeply about). 

I believe wisdom moves necessarily slower than the pace set by social media. 

In processing the explosive response to Josh Butler’s March 1 Beautiful Union book excerpt at The Gospel Coalition, I’ve thus been slow to say anything publicly. This has required great restraint! But I’ve lived long enough in the internet age—and worked long enough in the online content industry—t...

The Earth Is the LORD’s: 15 Ways Christians Can Celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day is not a Christian holiday, and its reputation as an occasion for left-leaning political grandstanding may indeed make some Christians leery of celebrating it.

But if we look beyond the political fault lines that have developed around environmental policy, and consider Earth Day as simply an opportunity to express gratitude for the good gift of God’s creation—and perhaps also an opportunity to recommit to good stewardship of this gift—then why shouldn’t Christians join in?

The Earth is ...

In 2023, Resolve to Revolve Your Life Around God

There is life on Earth because of the Sun. Our planet’s distance from the Sun, and orbital path around it, is perfectly calibrated for life. We exist within a rare “habitable zone” in which liquid water can exist (among other things essential for life), and it all has to do with our planet’s relationship with the Sun. What a miracle!

I’m pondering this today as another year ends, and a new 365-day trip around the Sun begins. In a literal sense, our lives are marked by their revolutions around the...

Favorites of 2022

I’ve been an arts and culture writer/editor/curator for all of my adult life, but I admit: Even when it’s your job, it’s so hard to keep up with the glut of movies, TV series, books, and music out there. That’s why this year, I decided to not even try to keep up on TV. I watched and wrote about a few shows (Rings of Power, Severance), but honestly my time is limited and TV shows require such a commitment of hours (I haven’t even had time to watch the new season of The Crown yet). I’d rather spen...