Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option is the bestselling and most discussed religious book of the past year. In it Dreher argues that the past few decades in American life have revealed the extent to which Bible-believing Christians have been decentered socially, culturally, and politically. An increasing number of Americans—including those with cultural power—view historic Christianity as implausible, [ Read More ]
In 2006, sociologist Philip Rieff (1922-2006) published My Life among the Deathworks, the first volume of his monumental Sacred Order / Social Order trilogy. In it, he argued that the West in general and the United States in particular is in the midst of an unprecedented attempt to desacralize the social order. [Note: This article [ Read More ]
How can Christians best respond to a situation in which historic Christian belief and practice is increasingly marginalized socially, culturally, and politically? On July 12, 2017, I participated in a panel discussion of this question at the National Press Club in Washington, D. C. The discussion was hosted by the Institute on Religion & Democracy and moderated by [ Read More ]
Here are three new books (and an old one) that I am currently reading and evaluating. I recommend them to pastors, professors, students, and others who are interested in exploring the intersection between Christianity, politics, and public life. I will describe each book and then provide a brief-to-the-extreme evaluation of it. Anthony Esolen, Out of [ Read More ]
This week, I participated in an online symposium consisting of 12 very brief post-election answers to the question: “What has the 2016 election revealed about the state of the Church and its place in American culture, and how ought we (the American Church) move forward from here?” The other contributors and I (Bruce Ashford, Hunter Baker, [ Read More ]