The Archive

Every essay.

Matthew LoftusCulture

"It's not like they ask us." - Doctors Without Boredom

This story by Elaina Plott about guns and the people who use them is really insightful: That the broader population has transposed the attitudes of people like Bennett onto most gun owners is understandable. Popular discourse is given to extremes. […]

Jake Meador

Consent and Trust - Commonplaces

From the NYT: For our first date, he took an Uber to my apartment through a winter storm. As the snow fell outside, we sat close on my couch while he talked touchingly about poetry. Two hours in, I was hoping […]

Matthew LoftusCultureHistory

Africa as antidote - Doctors Without Boredom

Melani McAlister has an incisive interview with David Swartz in Christianity Today on her new book, The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals: What do you mean when you describe Americans as “enchanted” by […]

Jake Meador

Rosaria Butterfield and Evading the Issues - Commonplaces

Jeremy Erickson: Rosaria Butterfield has not to my knowledge spoken recently about whether or not she continues to experience sexual temptation towards other women. People talk about her as a “former lesbian,” and as long as everything is defined in […]

Matthew Lee AndersonMere Fidelity

Mere Fidelity: Confessions, Book 12

Mere Fidelity: Confessions, Book 12

Matthew Loftus

Andy Gullahorn, "Everything As It Should Be" - Doctors Without Boredom

I really liked Andy Gullahorn’s last album, and I really like this one. They’re not all that different — honestly, does a new album need to be different in order to be good? — but they’re worth listening to. I was […]

Jake Meador

Football and the Political Act of Prayer - Commonplaces

Don't miss historian Paul Putz on the history of prayer before and after football games.

Jake MeadorCurrent Politics

Setting Fire to Modern Civilization: On Abuse and Institutions

Chesterton would set fire to modern civilization because of a poor child's dirty hair. We are reluctant to take such steps in the face of far greater evils.

Matthew LoftusCultureEthics

"Nothing that is given is valued." - Doctors Without Boredom

You know how when someone is rubbing your back because it’s sore and they find the exact spot that hurts and press on it and you saw “YEOW!” because it hurts but also because they found it? That’s what I felt like reading […]

Jake MeadorBook Reviews

The Hedonism of Reading Good Books - Commonplaces

E. J. Hutchinson at TAC: “I hate to read new books.” So begins William Hazlitt’s essay “On Reading Old Books.” The title will remind readers of C.S. Lewis’s similarly named but much more well known essay “On the Reading of […]

Matthew LoftusFamilyEducation

God and public schools - Doctors Without Boredom

Like Emily Hubbard, I grew up in a conservative Christian milieu that thought public schools were a moral cesspool where I would be exposed to drugs, sex, and possibly even evolutionary theory. And now she sends her kids to a […]

Jake Meador

Dealing with Burnout Like a Christian - Commonplaces

Chris Krycho: For the last several months, I’ve been experiencing what I initially described as mild burnout. I’m not sure how mild it is at this point, but I’m definitely still experiencing it. As a result, I’m still thinking about how to mitigate […]