The Archive

Every essay.

Jake MeadorHistoryBook ReviewsPan-AfricanismKenneth Kaunda

Reading the Pan-Africanists: Kenneth Kaunda IV - Commonplaces

The whole chapter on nationalism is fascinating reading, especially if the main forms of nationalism you’re familiar with are European forms or the muddled thing we have here in America. African nationalism, this explosive force which has changed the shape […]

Rachel Roth AldhizerFamilyFeaturedFormation

The Contradiction of Healing Prayer - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” I think about this verse often. I am not sure who counts as a righteous person, and I’m not sure how to qualify “working.” The sentence before […]

Dan OlsonFeaturedEducation

An Education for Lincoln's Heaven - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

In a 2013 article on ‘Christian Schooling and Racial Realities,’ Hunter Baker concluded that while “the racial unification of the American church might best begin in the Christian schoolhouse” he lamented that it is a “mission … awaiting a champion […]

Jake MeadorHistoryPan-AfricanismKenneth Kaunda

Reading the Pan-Africanists: Kenneth Kaunda III - Commonplaces

It’s from 1966 and Zambia but, dang, if parts of this don’t map eerily well onto the “racial reconciliation” discourse. It is truly tragic the fear which has been engendered in European minds because they now find themselves ruled by […]

Jake MeadorHistoryPan-AfricanismKenneth Kaunda

Reading the Pan-Africanists: Kenneth Kaunda III - Commonplaces

It’s from 1966 and Zambia but, dang, if parts of this don’t map eerily well onto the “racial reconciliation” discourse. It is truly tragic the fear which has been engendered in European minds because they now find themselves ruled by […]

Matthew WileyFeaturedEvangelicalismhealthFormation

Seminary Anxiety - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Everyone here bites their nails. I first noticed this last Fall and the realization was at once troubling and consoling. Troubling, because this is a child’s bad habit; consoling, because at least I’m not the only one who hasn’t used […]

Vika PecherskyFeaturedEvangelicalism

Karl Barth's Warning for Evangelical Theology - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

“What is culture in itself except the attempt of man to be man and thus to hold the good gift of his humanity in honor and to put it to work?” —Karl Barth In 1957, Karl Barth delivered his lecture […]

Mitch EastBibleFeaturedFormation

This Is My Body Given for You - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

On the night Christ was betrayed by Judas, Our Lord celebrated the Passover with all of his brothers, including the traitor himself. Other than the disciple Jesus loved, eleven of His chosen men would later abandon him. In light of […]

Miles SmithFeaturedEvangelicalismCulture WarCurrent Politics

The Uselessness of "Christian Nationalism" - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Over the past several years the topic of Christian nationalism has occupied the minds of Evangelical intellectuals and pastors. No less than half a dozen books have been written on the subject in the past year. Three of them have […]

James WaldenFeatured

Deconstruction and a Theology of the Cross - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Over the past few years a large number of American Christians have shared that they have “deconstructed,” or are in the process of “deconstructing” their faith. The term is an interesting one. I’ve often wondered why “faith deconstruction” in particular […]

Skyler Flowers and Michael GrahamFeaturedChurchEvangelicalism

One Year Later: Reflecting on Evangelicalism's Six-Way Fracturing - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Skyler Flowers also contributed to this essay. Reflections on the Six Way Fracturing of Evangelicalism a Year Later Critical Race Theory. Afghanistan. Verdicts in Floyd and Arbery cases. Kyle Rittenhouse. Vaccine Mandates. Russia invades Ukraine. Roe v. Wade overturned. Uvalde […]

Jake MeadorFeaturedCultureEvangelicalismCulture WarCurrent Politics

Shame - Mere Orthodoxy | Christianity, Politics, and Culture

Shame is, amongst other things, the problem of how to understand yourself and your relationship to neighbor in the aftermath of offending or hurting your neighbor. Given the fragmentation of our society, we shouldn’t be surprised that no one seems […]