Deaths of Despair and Lives of Hope in a Cynical Age
Upon falling into the hands of Giant Despair, Christian and his friend Hopeful were imprisoned without any provisions for days on end and while enduring beatings. In John Bunyan’s 17th-century allegory Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian eventually laments, “Brother, what shall we...
Common Good Constitutionalism Considered
Right. I read it. And by “It” I mean, of course, Adrian Vermeule’s Atlantic piece. Here’s the thing: Vermeule’s “Common good constitutionalism” is not actually that different from, for example, Hadley Arkes’ natural law constitutionalism. That tradition of Finnis-inspired Lincoln-loving...
The God Who Hears Our Laments
Pastoral theology is tested in a time of crisis. War, famine, natural disasters, and plagues are winds that sift chaff from wheat, or purifying fires revealing so much dross mixed with the precious gold of the gospel.
Book Review: The Wonderful Decree by Travis James Campbell
Of the making of many books there is no end. Of the making of books on divine predestination there is also no end. Travis James Campbell’s recent book The Wonderful Decree focuses its attention on divine election and God’s desire...
The Perpetual Motion Machine and the Pandemic
My grandmother is eighty-five years old. She will die someday. I want her to die well and, in the meantime, to live well. She lives with my aunt about ten minutes from where I live with my wife and four...
“Grace, Predestination, and the Permission of Sin,” with Dr. Taylor Patrick O’Neill
What hath St. Thomas to do with predestination? Dr. Taylor Patrick O’Neill joins Matt and Derek to discuss his recent book, Grace, Predestination, and the Permission of Sin: A Thomistic Analysis, to examine the Thomist understanding of predestination and how...
Seeing Jack: The Prodigal in Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead
‘For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him?’ In every important way we are such secrets from each other, and I do believe that there is a separate...
Public Reasoning in a Pandemic: Responding to Moore, Reno, and Littlejohn
The rapidly expanding number of Covid-19 cases in the United States poses an extraordinary test of our nation’s institutions and their leaders. In recent days, a discussion has broken out about how we should integrate our interest in preserving and...
“No Wealth But Life”: Moral Reasoning in a Pandemic
Two weeks ago we awoke from our dogmatic slumber of American exceptionalism to realize that the coronavirus was not merely some “Chinese virus,” or the bane of aging Italians. America, and her public officials in particular, have been playing catch...
Omnium Gatherum Pt. 2: Q&A
The whole cast and crew of Matt, Derek, Alastair, and Andrew, are here to answer questions from listeners of Mere Fidelity. Listen in as the guys tackle the following: Where does one start reading the early church fathers, does the...