The Archive

Every essay.

John CarpenterBibleFeatured

Ecclesiastes' Cure for Depression - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Twenty years ago, I was depressed. I was 37 years old living in a nice home in Kentucky. Just a couple of months earlier I thought I was set up for the life I had been working so hard for. […]

Joshua HeavinFeatured

How to Cultivate Epistemic Virtue - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Bonnie Kristian. Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking our Brains, Polluting our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2022. 225pp, $24.99. Over the last decade, many of us have found ourselves increasingly unable to relate to the […]

Scott YenorFeaturedCurrent Politics

Sex Ed as the Leading Edge of the Revolution - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Families and churches relinquished control over sex ed to public schools in the early 1970s. Now families and churches are reaping the whirlwind. Initially, at least, public schools assumed control over sex ed to stop the spread of sexually transmitted […]

Brad LittlejohnFeaturedHistoryCurrent Politics

The Search for a Christian Nation: Christian Nationalism and the American Founding - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

“Christian Nationalism” and the Appeal to History Is America a Christian nation—or was it ever? This vexed question, debated for decades, has been given a new lease on life by the heated and sometimes obsessive conversation around so-called “Christian nationalism” […]

Zach HollifieldFamilyFeatured

When Permanent Contraception Can Be Licit - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Alex and Sarah are Christians who have been married for five years. They have 2 children and would like to have more. However, they feel called to adopt as the route to parenting more children. Their only hesitation is that […]

Matthew LoftusCultureEthicsEconomics

four theses on immigration - Doctors Without Boredom

The only solution to the immigration crisis involves making many places around the world worth staying in.

Matthew LoftusCultureEthicsEconomics

four theses on immigration - Doctors Without Boredom

The only solution to the immigration crisis involves making many places around the world worth staying in.

Jake MeadorChurch

Alternatives to Culture War - Commonplaces

One of the lines we have taken for a long time at Mere Orthodoxy is a skepticism about culture war strategies and motifs in Christian public speech and Christian political strategy. (This is one of the first pieces I wrote for […]

Jake MeadorChurch

Alternatives to Culture War - Commonplaces

One of the lines we have taken for a long time at Mere Orthodoxy is a skepticism about culture war strategies and motifs in Christian public speech and Christian political strategy. (This is one of the first pieces I wrote for […]

Jake MeadorChurch

The People Who Don't Ask Questions - Commonplaces

Jemar Tisby: How can a group of people be so certain about topics that are so complicated? How can they say with so much certainty, “The Bible says…” when so often their interpretations have led to injustice and oppression? The […]

Jake MeadorChurch

The People Who Don't Ask Questions - Commonplaces

Jemar Tisby: How can a group of people be so certain about topics that are so complicated? How can they say with so much certainty, “The Bible says…” when so often their interpretations have led to injustice and oppression? The […]

Jake Meador

Nursing Fathers and the New Right - Commonplaces

Eric Hutchinson first drew my attention to the suggestive description of the government as a “nursing father” in the 23rd chapter of the Westminster Confession. The phrase is in keeping with the Reformed tradition’s sensibilities about the fifth commandment, for […]