Month: May 2023
Tim Keller: Missionary to the Cities
On Sundays, I go to a church whose senior pastor and elder board were mentored by Tim Keller. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I attend classes in a seminary brought to New York by Tim Keller. When I see a homeless...
I think we should stop shrinking back.
There’s an old Hauerwas quote that a Mennonite friend of mine never tires of sharing: Christians are often tempted, particularly in this time called modern, to say more than we know. We are so tempted because we fear we do...
Does Maturity Still Matter?
I’ve been reading Mark Sayers’s interesting book A Non-Anxious Presence, and was particularly struck by this passage: As a network is swamped by chronic anxiety, it is marked by reactivity. Those within the system no longer act rationally, but rather,...
The End of Viking Vitalism
The third act of Robert Zemeckis’s underrated Beowulf adaptation begins with a dour meditation. “We men are the monsters now,” the aging hero rumbles. “The time of heroes is dead, Wiglaf—the Christ God has killed it, leaving humankind with nothing...
The Fate of Cain
Since the modern-turn, no topic has provoked more speculation—from as many angles and at the nexus of so many disciplines—than that of modernity itself. We speculate as to when it really started, where it has as of yet taken hold,...
Orthodox Beauty in the Face of Religious Abuse: Women Talking’s Generous Depiction of Christianity
If there were an award for getting audiences to live out the title of a film, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking would win in a landslide. The recent Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay has accomplished what good film–and good...
When the Therapeutic God Isn’t Sufficient
There was blood everywhere. The dead child – a baby of about 20 weeks gestation – just delivered, lay at one end of the table. The nurse took the body away. My wife, at the other end, laying in anguish...
In Memoriam: Timothy Keller (1950-2023)
The Road goes ever on and on Out from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, Let others follow it who can! Let them a journey new begin, But I at last with weary feet...
The Sin of Curiosity
Medieval theologians think that you should stop being curious. This confuses us: Despite our common axiom that “curiosity killed the cat,” modern people typically see curiosity as a virtue. If a person does not ask questions and feel a drive...
The Doom of Choice
Choice is one of Tolkien’s great preoccupations in The Lord of the Rings. He is fascinated by the existential challenge that confronts one at certain moments in life. I do not think they come often. You’re presented with two options. In...