The Archive

Every essay.

Christopher Benson

Understanding vocation, humanity, and politics through the metaphor of music

Maya Angelou says he “thinks like a sage, acts like a warrior and writes like a poetical prophet.” Henry Louis Gates, Jr. says he is “the pre-eminent African-American intellectual of our generation.” And Marian Wright Edelman says he is “one […]

Christopher BensonFilm Reviews/Hollywood

The Culture Wars Played Out in the American Cinema House

The Culture Wars Played Out in the American Cinema House

Tex

The Dying Christian to His Soul

Vital spark of heav’nly flame! Quit, O quit this mortal frame: Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying, O the pain, the bliss of dying! Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife, And let me languish into life. Hark! they whisper; angels say, Sister […]

Jake MeadorUncategorized

What makes good writing?

What makes good writing?

Christopher BensonMusic

The Double Entendre of African-American Music: A Lesson for the Church

The Double Entendre of African-American Music: A Lesson for the Church

TexUncategorized

The Rebel and the Cause

The Rebel and the Cause

Christopher Benson

Why We Need the Dark

Jesus taught that “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). As an anthropological and ethical statement, this is unequivocally true. But do we need physical darkness? In a National Geographic article entitled […]

Christopher BensonFormation

Time Poverty and the Sabbath

Time Poverty and the Sabbath

Christopher Benson

Crazy Ivar: Walking Gently on the Earth

A Meditation on Willa Cather’s O Pioneers! Shortly after the death of Nebraska pioneer John Bergson, his children––Alexandra, Lou, Oscar, and Emil––go on a “pleasure excursion” to buy a hammock from Crazy Ivar, who obtained the name from his hermetic […]

Jake Meador

On Land and Its Marks

On Land and Its Marks

Tex

St. George, Patron of Tolerance?

St. George is an unlikely candidate for “saint most likely to promote tolerance and ecumenical understanding” these days.  The legendary soldier is most often pictured astride a gallant warhorse, nobly piercing a large dragon with his lance or spear while […]

Christopher BensonLiterature

"Her eyes drank in the breadth of it": a phenomenology of receiving the land

"Her eyes drank in the breadth of it": a phenomenology of receiving the land