An eclectic collection of news and views from the past week on faith, language, and literature, as well as other topics of interest.

It looks like a new Narnia film is waiting in the wings. Walden Media president Micheal Flaherty says The Magician’s Nephew is the preferred choice for a fourth film in an interview with Christianity Today.

This one’s a little late, but the March edition of The Lutheran Witness contains an article on Natural Law from a Lutheran perspective. Our civil engagement, writes Korey D. Maas, must appeal to the law as written on the hearts of men rather than to the Scriptures per se. You can read it in “Natural Law, Lutheranism and the Public Good.”

BBC News Magazine reports on the latest additions to the Oxford English Dictionary include “LOL” and “OMG,” to the shock of language prescriptivists and general unsurprise of descriptivists everywhere. As OED editor Graeme Diamond explains, the purpose of the dictionary is to record words as they are used; not to prescribe which words should be used: “The word is common, widespread, and people understand it.” And so it makes it in.

Jessa Crispin has a thoughtful take on the glut of bad books published these days. A selection: “The difference is that now whatever you can scribble on paper or type on your computer, you might as well publish as a book. What was once fantasy — becoming a published writer — now can be reality. Sorta. You and your book have to face that din and most likely will get lost in it.” It’s all in an article entitled “A Sea of Words” over at The Smart Set.

Self-described churchgoing nonbeliever Martin Rees has won the Templeton prize. The million pound prize is awarded annually to an individual who, according to the official website, “has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.” The Guardian has a good story on Reese’s award, with links to an interview and the text of his acceptance speech.

And finally in other news, it was revealed this past Wednesday that a 75 year-old Georgian woman disabled internet access to all of of Armenia back in March. But this isn’t a case of high-tech electronic terrorism. The elderly woman was simply scavenging for copper when she accidentally cut though a very important fiber optic cable. Read all about it at The Guardian.