Our Fugitive Senses and Sensibilities
Throughout the archaeological, biological, and literary records of homo sapiens emerges a common trait: the species best capable of lifting eyes and mind heavenward has not found this earth to be enough. However murkily understood, the great mounds of earth...
Marriage as Moral Orthodoxy
As evangelicals watch megachurches and other institutions wobble in their convictions about marriage, we have sought to buttress support by elevating the traditional view of the doctrine to a matter of orthodoxy. Always up for a good statement — or...
Punishment and Exchange
It seems to some the very epitome of a “mere” orthodoxy in the worst sense — too juridical for God’s mercy and too arbitrary for God’s justice — even to those who are not in the habit of yielding too...
A Missionary Encounter with the West: A Guide to Lesslie Newbigin
Lesslie Newbigin has been characterized by a leading church historian as “probably the most influential British theologian of the twentieth century.”[1] He spent 40 years in India as a missionary. When he returned to Europe, he had fresh eyes to...
On Christian Hope
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. — Psalm 90:1–20 I have often...
Introducing Mere Orthodoxy #1: Fall 2021
This is the introductory letter that ran with our inaugural print edition, which reached subscribers last week. Subscribe now to receive future issues. In order to maximize our reach in these early days of the print edition, I will be...
Forget “Enchantment”: In Praise of the Spooky
Thomas Merton concretized a sentiment many of us share and have found ourselves unable to articulate: “October is a fine and dangerous season in America. It is dry and cool and the land is wild with red and gold and...
Sons and Daughters
When philosopher Umberto Galimberti began working as a psychoanalyst in 1979, his patients’ problems “were grounded in emotions, feelings, and sexuality. Now,” however, “they concern the void of meaning.” According to Galimberti, young people are plagued by a sense of...
Dragons in the Deep Places
Ross Douthat’s new book, a memoir of his experience with chronic illness, is far more than that simple description would suggest. It recounts, in excruciating detail, his journey with Lyme disease, which began in 2015. It tells of the pain...
A Legacy of Letters: Living and Dying Well in the Lives of My Great-Grandparents
A tiny Bella, wearing a striped sweater and a mostly toothless grin. My parents, glowingly happy with their new baby. My three great-grandparents, seemingly ageless.