The Archive

Every essay.

Jake MeadorFeaturedChurch

The Crisis in Christian Discipline and the Opportunity Before Us

American Christianity's moral witness has been badly weakened at a time when we could provide a confused, fracturing world with a hopeful alternative.

Guest WriterFeatured

The Confusions and Dangers of a Church of Mercy | Mere Orthodoxy

Wesley Hill reviews Ross Douthat's book "To Change the Church," arguing that Pope Francis's call to mercy is both admirable and potentially revolutionary.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Mere Fidelity: Theophanies, with Vern Poythress - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Rev. Dr. Vern Poythress is professor of New Testament interpretation at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is also the author of the newly published Theophany: A Theology of God’s Appearing. He joins the show to discuss God’s appearances in Scripture, and […]

Matthew LoftusFamilyCultureEconomics

spend time with poor people, be friends and neighbors - Doctors Without Boredom

I love it when Eve Tushnet gets on her soapbox about poverty and virtue, and this great piece about the much-touted “success sequence” is no exception: The people I speak with believe they have a responsibility—there’s that word again—to achieve […]

Jake MeadorBook Reviews

New Davenant release: God of Our Fathers - Commonplaces

Both of these things are true: I have spent my entire life in the church. I didn’t really know the traditional view of the doctrine of God until the last couple of years.

Matthew Loftus

"I can’t work for justice and righteousness if I don’t have love in my heart." - Doctors Without Boredom

D.L. Mayfield reflects on a recent podcast on missionaries that unfortunately gets stuck in the swamp of mockery and criticism without love.

Jake Meador

Two Questions After Reading Jonathan Leeman's "How the Nations Rage"

Jonathan Leeman's new book has much practical wisdom, but the underlying political imagination leaves something to be desired.

Jake Meador

Hospitality requires skill. - Commonplaces

Hospitality is place-making with the goal of serving others. Creating a place like that requires patience, time, and cultivating a number of skills.

Matthew LoftusPoliticsFeatured

Stay Woke, Cultivate Virtue - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

The new synthetic morality fails precisely because it offers no account of personal formation, no means of shaping an individual person toward virtue.

Matthew LoftusHealth & Medicine

let's stop asking doctors to text while driving - Doctors Without Boredom

Using an EMR while talking to patients is like texting while driving. There's got to be a better way.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Mere Fidelity: Ross Douthat, on 'To Change the Church' - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins Derek and Matt to discuss his new book, To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism. Douthat’s excellent new book explores the legacy of Pope Francis and the crisis within the Roman Catholic […]

Tessa CarmanBook Reviews

Book Review: Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season

Plough's new anthology of Easter stories ably captures both the beauty of Easter and the surprising, even shocking, fact of Christ's resurrection.