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