The Archive

Every essay.

Todd StathamFeaturedCurrent Politicshealth

A Time to Die: Reflections on Medically-Assisted Dying in Canada - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

There is “a time to die” says Scripture (Ecclesiastes 3:2). When is that time? And who decides? I live in Canada, where these questions now seem to have clear answers: you may decide when to die, and whatever you decide […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Wild Christianity - Commonplaces

Kingsnorth has a must-read in First Things: Everybody is talking these days about the decline of the West, and with good reason. Some people think that Christianity should have something to say about this: that as the faith was the rock […]

Jake MeadorFeaturedCultureEvangelicalism

Renewing Public Protestantism: Online Media - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

(this post could be understood as a companion piece to the recent statement regarding a renewal of public Protestantism) If our traffic data is accurate, most of you reading this right now are reading on your phone. Over the last […]

Jeb RalstonFeatured

Championing an Unknown and Unbeloved Era: A Survey of Heiko A. Oberman’s Life, Work, and Methodology - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

The Late Middle and Reformation historian, Heiko A. Oberman, has left an indelible impact upon Renaissance and Reformation studies even twenty years after his untimely death. In this article, I seek to give an account of Oberman’s life and legacy, […]

Joshua HeavinFeaturedFormation

Deconversion and the Cross - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

What has God promised us about our lives, in the here and now? One of the earliest works of Christian theology is Origen of Alexandria’s On First Principles; a case can be made that it is our oldest, extant text […]

Matthew EmersonFeaturedFormation

Descent - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

At the beginning of The Divine Comedy, in Canto I of Inferno, Dante opens with these famous lines:

Daniel Whyte IVFeatured

No Dust on Me - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

The third season of His Dark Materials, the television adaptation of British fantasy writer Philip Pullman’s popular trilogy, wrapped up this winter. While the show, airing on the BBC in the UK and on HBO internationally, was looked to as […]

Matthew ArboFeatured

Rules for (Theological) Retrieval - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

I’ve always been intrigued by archaeology. The expectant digging, the gentle sweeping away of silt and debris, unearthing bones and artifacts hidden for millennia; it’s all endlessly fascinating. A thing lost and long forgotten to humankind suddenly reappears enclosed in […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Evangelistic Postures - Commonplaces

(Note: I’m going to be using the short hand from Mike and Skyler’s six-way fracturing article throughout this piece. So if you haven’t read it, start there.) The core problem facing the preservation or formation of conservative Protestant coalitions right […]

Jake MeadorFeaturedChurch

Toward a Renewed Public Protestantism: The Beginnings of a Manifesto - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

In his book Bad Religion, Ross Douthat suggests that the 1950s were the high water mark for Christianity in America. Amongst other things, church attendance was at its peak and each of America’s four defining ecclesial traditions were relatively strong. […]

Jake Meador

Once More re: the Uselessness of "Christian Nationalism" - Commonplaces

Let’s do this one more time. We live in a moment with (somehow!) a uniquely cursed discourse concerning religion and politics. Much of this is connected to “Christian nationalism.” The problem here is that the term as it gets used […]

Jake Meador

The Durant Trade - Commonplaces

So for those who don’t know: I’m a lifelong Phoenix Suns fan. My uncle lives in Phoenix and had season tickets so when our family would visit, I’d get to go to the Suns games. Those were the Charles Barkley, […]