On the Pence Rule
In Hannah Coulter Wendell Berry tells the sad and predictable story of the divorce of Marcus and Margaret Settlemeyer. The two marry after finishing school at the University of Kentucky and quickly move to Louisville to get work as teachers, both...
Book Review: Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen
One of the smartest observations made about Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option came, unsurprisingly, from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat.
The Crisis in Christian Discipline and the Opportunity Before Us
We are long overdue for a sustained argument about the purpose and means of church discipline as well as the broader role of Christian discipline in the life of individual Christians and Christian communities. By church discipline, I mean some...
3 Notes on the Kevin Willamson Firing
Yesterday Kevin Williamson’s extremely short time at The Atlantic came to an abrupt end. There’s been no shortage of angst about it amongst conservatives and, thus, no shortage of panicky responses from the right and “he deserved it,” pieces from the...
Longing and Hope in the Shadowlands
In the opening days of Advent 2015 my dad suffered a traumatic brain injury. It was the result of a drug complication. Dad had been having some issues with blood clots and was due to have a surgery to patch...
The Tedium of Worldview Analysis
In an episode of “The Briefing,” yesterday Dr. Al Mohler of Southern Seminary reflected on the death of the renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. You can read a full transcript of the eight minute segment on Hawking using the link above.
The Problem with Surrogacy: A Brief Sketch
This will, hopefully, be brief. I wanted to briefly articulate what the core good of the Christian vision of sexuality is so that we can then connect that good to the problems of IVF and surrogacy.
The Grace of Good Questions
Francis Schaeffer used to say that if he had an hour to tell someone about Jesus, he would spend the first 55 minutes of that hour listening. I thought about this a couple weekends ago when I was able to...
The Evangelical Center After Billy Graham
It’s a fairly banal observation, at this point, to note that the success of Billy Graham and other mid-century evangelicals, like Carl F. H. Henry and Harold Ockenga, came from their ability to formulate a centrist vision of American Protestantism....
The Parting of Ways Amongst Younger Christians
Several years ago I heard Ross Douthat say that he thought, given the 20-30 years of good will that had been built up between Protestants and Catholics, it may soon be time for some frank discussions of our differences and...