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 ]
By Bruce and Lauren Ashford What a happy, life-altering, exhausting, and intimidating thing it is to be a parent of small children. There are moments of undeniable joy and laughter—holding your newborn, hearing him laugh for the first time, singing to her, teaching him to walk, experiencing her first words. Who doesn’t have fond memories [ Read More ]
Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) is one of the most extraordinary public theologians in modern Christian history. A prolific theologian and public intellectual, he wrote books for scholars and for everyday Christians, founded the Free University in Amsterdam, taught theology, started a national newspaper, served as a member of Parliament and as the Prime Minister of the [ Read More ]
In light of the bloody events of this weekend, white conservatives have a unique and significant opportunity to help our nation heal from its long-standing racial wounds. But in order to help our nation heal, we must reiterate our opposition to the white nationalism and supremacy that have grown in our camp. We must resist [ Read More ]
God is not a racist. Torch-wielding white nationalists and white supremacists marching through Charlottesville, Virginia, Friday night failed to learn that important lesson. They shouted ‘unite the right’ and ‘white lives matter’ — and called for the South to split from the United States. The Friday evening march was a precursor to a larger “Alt-Right” rally [ Read More ]
When the Lord returns victorious, we will meet him first and foremost as Christians. But we will also meet him as twenty-first century Americans. Being an American is not the most important part of our identity, but it is an inescapable part and one for which we will give account. We owe it to God [ 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 ]
In her book, The Peaceable Classroom, Mary Rose O’Reilly tells the story of an encounter she had at a conference on higher education: Recently at a East Coast Conference, a young graduate student told me that, really, all of this theorizing about teaching is just a game. “It gives us something to talk about,” he [ Read More ]
In 1998, at the age of 24, I left the United States for the first time in order to become a university instructor in Kazan, Russia. Kazan is a breathtakingly beautiful city that is best known internationally for having been the home, for a short while, of both Lenin and Tolstoy. It is also a cultural [ Read More ]