The Archive

Every essay.

Joey SherrardBook Reviews

Augustine and the Glittering Vices of Christian Ministry

Augustine describes sin carefully to learn to see it. He does that not just so we can see it over there, but so we can learn to see it in ourselves.

Matthew CluraghtyCulture

The Ancient World Had No Word for Child Abuse

The Christian revolution transformed a normal practice of the Roman world into a moral offense and a crime in the Christian world.

John AhernFormation

Why Christian Scholars Need the Psalms

We must build institutions that seek to form Christian minds according to Scripture. If we don’t, it will be done anyway, but not in ways we want.

Steven WillingFormation

A Taxonomy of Pride in 'The Great Divorce'

Lewis's 'The Great Divorce' offers a bracing and disturbing series of portraits all showing different forms of pride and its fruit.

Case ThorpCulture

Ida B. Wells's Public Faith

Emboldened by her understanding of Christianity, Ida B. Wells walked the gospel into places where it was unwelcome.

Haley IsbellChurchEducation

The Other Side of Seminary

The banal work of submitting invoices and managing calendars is easy to forget, but our institutions can't function without people who do that work well.

John EhrettCultureBook Reviews

The Problem with 'Religion'

A key problem with Christian nationalist theories is that they presuppose the modernist conception of 'religion' that they ostensibly want to subvert.

Erik CoonceBook ReviewsChurch

A Scrapbook of Pastoral Care

What ought to occupy a pastor’s time? Long-time pastor Reuben Bredenhof attempts to address that question in his book 'The Ministry of Small Things.'

Elizabeth SticeBook Reviews

Baa, Ram, You?

The One and the Ninety-Nine rests on a 'simple' premise: 'Each of us is torn between belonging and differentiation; few ever learn to manage that tension.'

Hayden NesbitCulture

Crisis and Covenant

The concept of covenant offers a helpful way out of the narrative trap in which our culture is currently stuck.

Dave StrunkChurch

How to Help Include Children's Ministry Volunteers in Worship

Effective church ministry exists on a spectrum of the ideal on one side and ‘what people will actually participate in’ on the other side.

Nadya WilliamsBook Reviews

The Midlist, the Middlemen and the Future of American Literature

Because writers take time to grow and develop, it's good that they have long runways. But in today's publishing world, the runways are shorter than ever.