The Archive

Every essay.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Questioning Humanity: Where are You?

Recently, my good friend and teacher Dr. John Mark Reynolds glossed the opening to Plato’s Phaedrus, which opens with the provocative set of questions, “Where did you come from, and where are you going?” Doctor Reynolds points out that we […]

TexInternational Politics

Jihad and Justice: Augustine's Citizens

Besides distinguishing between two cities: the city of God and the city of man, Augustine also pays close attention to the differences between the members of these two cities. By

Matthew Lee AndersonUncategorized

The Malleability of the Body: Is Physicality Given?

Adolescent brains, it turns out, are different from adult brains in at least one way. As neuroscientist Deborah Yurgelun-Todd has found, adolescents use a different part of their brain

Matthew Lee AndersonDiscussion Leading

Conversations that Count: How Leaders Lead Discussions

*Note: After taking a summer break from this series, I am returning to it and will finish it this fall.  For other posts in the series, see the bottom of this post.* The flexible nature of discussion presents an inherent […]

Matthew Lee AndersonUncategorizedBooks

Under Review: Neurosis and Human Growth

There are few books that I read (fortunately) that hit me with what I can only describe as "explosive force." In fact, Karen Horney's Neurosis and

Matthew Lee AndersonPolitics

Our Teachable Moment: Learning (the right) Lessons from the War

David Gushee has written a piece in Christianity Today lamenting the fact that Christians supported the decision to invade Iraq. In it, he contends that now that public opinion has

Matthew Lee AndersonBooks

Under Review: The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture

GodBlogCon, with which I have been formally associated in the past, rests on the assumption that Christians should engage culture and do so using whatever tools are at our disposal.

Matthew Lee AndersonBooks

The Future and Its Enemies

For many, the future is a source of anxiety. Macbeth's temptation--to know with certainty the outcome of our lives--is powerful because it is common. Yet there

TexInternational Politics

Jihad and Justice: The Two Cities

The conception of just war and its relationship to the state is indispensable in both Christian and Islamic political thought. Since both Christians and Muslims set up right authority as

Matthew Lee Andersonembodiment

The Body of Music

Music has a body. Or, as Jeremy Begbie argues in the latest Books and Culture, the expression of music is inseparable from corporeality. Music making and music hearing are ways we engage the physical world. Even in the case of […]

Matthew Lee AndersonTheology and Practice

The Undramatic Universe: Jason Bourne and God

After watching The Bourne Ultimatum again (this time with my wife), I am even more convinced and intrigued by Mere-O reader Nobody's analysis of it: But after

Matthew Lee AndersonUncategorized

The Kid Nation that Isn't.

When I first heard about Kid Nation, the new reality tv-show by CBS, I was excited. Having been recently been made aware by Dr. Epstein about the ways our