Month: July 2017
The Church Has Always Known Theological Controversy
“Not again.” That was my first thought when Eugene Peterson’s comments on gay marriage came out. Regardless of the retraction, I knew the next few days would be ugly online. Various think-pieces (good and bad) would come, as would the...
Jesus the Imagination: A New Magazine Launches in Midtown Manhattan
The current story of Christian media is not—despite the pain occasioned by the passing of Books and Culture—exclusively one of decline and buzzfeedification. This summer marks the advent of a new annual, edited by Michael Martin, titled Jesus the Imagination.
17776 and the End of Nature
If you read Hannah Anderson’s Humble Roots a few days before reading Jon Bois’s “17776” you’ll experience a kind of whiplash. Anderson’s book is about gratitude and exploring the ways that creation teaches us about God, about ourselves, and about virtue....
A Christian Manifesto on Healthcare and the State
Human beings are created in the image of God, body and soul, and have been called as such “very good.” Our bodily nature reflects God’s goodness to us and the embodied acts that we participate in (eating, sleeping, work, communicating,...
Book Review: Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
A couple weeks ago I was reviewing a draft of Kayla Snow’s excellent review of The Long, Long Life of Trees and we began talking about the historically unprecedented ignorance of place that defines many in the west today. A book like...
Finding the Gospel in Game of Thrones
Unless you’re living under a rock (or the proverbial bushel), it’s impossible to have missed the phenomenon that is Game of Thrones. Part fantasy epic, part prestige television, its controversial subject matter has made it a bit of a touchy...
Book Review: Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins
We live in an age of remarkably high levels of economic disruption brought about by technological developments. That’s a truism, of course, but it’s as good a starting place as any for considering the book we are discussing today....
Book Review: “The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years” by Robert Thorson
I’m pleased to publish this guest review by Joshua Novalis. Every morning, on my way to work, I drive past an apartment complex amusingly named Walden Pond. While I’ve never spoken with the owners, I assume the name to be...
Book Review: The Long, Long Life of Trees by Fiona Stafford
I’m pleased to publish this book review by Kayla Snow. Any book written with the expressed intention of moving its readers to stop reading is one that piques my curiosity. When that book is about trees, I am especially intrigued....