The Archive

Every essay.

Matthew Lee AndersonFormation

Lenten Asceticism and the Kingdom Of God - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Asceticism is one of the most frequently misunderstood and historically abused aspects of the Christian faith. But it can hardly be ignored. It is common knowledge that the earliest days of the Church were fraught with persecution and martyrdom. As […]

TexFormation

Marriage as a Spiritual Discipline - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Despite roundly panning Gary Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage last week for it’s fundamentally questionable premise, I have to admit that he has a lot of good things to say in response to the historic trend among Christians to look down […]

Matthew Lee AndersonFormation

The Freedom of the Christian and the Question of Lent - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

(Bumped–I realized I put in the wrong timestamp when I set it to automatically post!). For many evangelicals, the idea of regular and church-legislated engagement with spiritual disciplines such as Lent impinges upon the freedom of the individual believer. In […]

Matthew Lee Anderson

A Test for the Academy: Michael Clayton - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

When the Oscar nominees were announced, I was mildly surprised to see “Michael Clayton” among the nominees for Best Picture. After seeing it, that mild surprise turned into astonishment. The idea that this film could win Best picture over No […]

Keith E. BuhlerEvangelicalism

Apostolic Hermaneutics - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

 “By expecting the Apostles to conform to modern assumptions we run the danger of missing the theological and kerygmatic richness of the Apostles’ use of the OT.” Continuing a line Matt started, here is an interesting article (about 25 pages) […]

TexBook Reviews

Review: Sacred Marriage

Review: Sacred Marriage

Keith E. Buhler

Do Not Question Authority - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

You might get fired. Or worse, Expelled.

Keith E. BuhlerPhilosophy

Early to Rise: Thoreau and Aurora

Early to Rise: Thoreau and Aurora

Matthew Lee AndersonPolitics

Romney for President(?!)

Romney for President(?!)

Matthew Lee Anderson

Martin Luther King's Theological Legacy - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

On a day when we honor a man committed to racial reconciliation, Fred Sanders offers this responsible analysis of Martin Luther’s theological tradition,  strengths and weaknesses: But mainly, MLK saw a big issue coming his way and knew to lean […]

Matthew Lee Anderson

Typological Reading and the Christian Text - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

How should we then read? It is a question with which I have occasionally wrestled. My freshman year of college, I was introduced to the world of hermeneutics, which seemed at the time to be the discipline of debunking other […]

Matthew Lee AndersonLiterature

Irony, Awakening, and Dissolution

Irony, Awakening, and Dissolution