Category: Christian Life

The Doom of Choice

Choice is one of Tolkien’s great preoccupations in The Lord of the Rings. He is fascinated by the existential challenge that confronts one at certain moments in life. I do not think they come often. You’re presented with two options. In...

/ May 16, 2023

Jeanne Guyon: Learning to Pray in the Digital Age from an Imprisoned Mystic

Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon (1648–1717) discovered a particular discipline of prayer in which she could inhabit the “peace of God in the very midst of oppression and intense hardship.”[1] Her autobiography and books of Biblical study are...

/ May 11, 2023

Two Truths for Dark Days

Like many parents, I’ve sent my kindergartener to school recently with a pit in my stomach. Horror of the recent school shooting has ripped across the nation in the last week. My mind is preoccupied with terror. My kindergartener attends...

/ April 6, 2023

The Ministry of Salt

There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to...

/ March 24, 2023

Deconversion and the Cross

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...

/ February 20, 2023

Descent

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

/ February 17, 2023

Epiphany: How an Enchanted World Drew Outsiders to God

A number of years ago, a wise parent shared with me an insight for which I have been repeatedly grateful: One reason God gives us children is so that we adults can [re]discover nature. This has proven true on numerous...

/ February 6, 2023

Deconstruction, Reconstruction and Replacement: Building Near the “Yawning Abyss”

Deconstruction to some degree seems duty free. That individuals subtract parts and pieces of their lives that don’t fit and then figure out what to fill in those abscesses. As we enter into a cultural field of reconstruction (I’m hearing...

/ January 12, 2023

Vocational Singleness is a Gospel Cornerstone

Having begun the work of bringing his kingdom on earth, Christ promised to redeem all of creation. He promised fullness of life to those who would follow him and blessing to their neighbors. Yet many believers offer timid testimonies about...

/ January 9, 2023

Christmas “Time” is Here

“Quid est enim tempus?” “So what is time?”[1] Pangs of nostalgia for innocence lost, discontent with reality present, and some combination of fear, uncertainty, or despair about the future can combine to make Christmas an especially difficult time. Recently, two...

/ December 22, 2022