This is the Daily Article podcast, published by the Denison Forum for Culture-Changing Christians.

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thedailyarticle.com. Now here's today's news, discerned differently.

Today is July 29, 2019, and Dr. Denison is on vacation.

However, while he and his wife are away, their oldest son, Ryan, is writing the daily article.

Ryan is an MDiv graduate of Truitt Seminary, currently completing his PhD in church history.

He has written the daily article in Dr.

Denison's absence in the past, and was the co-author of our latest publication, How Does God See America?

Now, here's the daily article today. Sunday night kicked off Discovery Channel's 31st season

of Shark Week, seven days of programming dedicated to the aquatic monstrosities

that haunt dreams and make a day at the beach just a bit more nerve-wracking.

The programming is now broadcast in 72 countries around the world, with just under 35 million

people expected to tune in. What makes this programming so attractive? And what does it say

about our culture that so many will dedicate their evenings to watching documentaries, movies,

and celebrity dives with these beasts? Shark Week originally began as an effort to increase

awareness about the importance of conservation,

while also tackling myths about sharks.

Given that the series began the year after the fourth film in the Jaws franchise hit theaters,

that desire to set the record straight is understandable,

and when you consider that roughly half the population of the Midwest is absolutely terrified of sharks.

Despite living nowhere near the ocean, sharks clearly hold an outsized influence on our collective

psyche. What I'd like to discuss today, however, is less related to our fear of sharks than the

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