When we hear words like ‘sin’ and ‘possession’ we might think they don’t really apply to us anymore. Maybe they are great to use as a kind of language game with our fellow Christians, a way of building community or a kind of secret handshake, but out there? In the real world? If we are …
As Christians engaging with philosophy and perhaps becoming philosophers ourselves, the question arises: what is the relation between this study and our faith? Poetically, what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Precisely, what does philosophy have to do with theology? When Thomas Aquinas took up this question, he responded with two notions in mind. …
The decline of American Christianity is no secret. Recent works like Ryan Burge’s The Rise of the Nones and Stephen Bullivant’s Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America have documented, analyzed, and explained quite deftly. The stats are shocking and the implications are quite disturbing—half of all Americans aged 18-29 are not only not religious but …
The Decline of Christianity: A Threat to America’s Democratic Fabric? Read More »
We live in a time of extraordinary uncertainty, and this is clear not just from personal experience, but with any cursory glance at media and talking heads, from mainstream sources to YouTube, to Tik Tok. Everyone is trying to understand what is going on, and everyone is asking why things seem so bleak and so …
Imagine being so important that historians would divide periods of time according to your name. Everything before you were born was just “prehistory”; the really important events don’t get started until your life begins. Our way of talking about history awards this honor to very few people. Off the top of my head I can …
We live in a world of endless choice. This seemingly infinite array of choices, extended to every fabric of our lives, has not made our lives any easier or streamlined, but has in fact increased the stress, anxiety, and paralysis we feel in light of these possibilities. In fact, this predicament is only exacerbated when …
Education and the Paradox of Choice: What’s the Point? Read More »
Friendship is inherently valuable, indeed one of the most valuable things in life. For this reason, Aristotle said that, “No one would choose to live a friendless existence, even on the condition of having all other good things.” If we better understand what friendship is, then we might better understand how to build new and …
Affection seems like a feeling, but friendship seems like an active condition. For affection is no less present for inanimate things, but loving in return involves choice, and choice comes from an active condition. And people wish for good things for those they love for those others’ own sake, not as a result of feeling …
Bringing Together What Is Being Torn Apart Means Understanding Theophany. The-oph-a-ny (noun): a visible manifestation to humankind of God or a god. In our age, the proliferation of various new age ‘spiritualities,’ the standing suspicion of the “institutional” Church, the ease with which people identify as ‘spiritual but not religious,’ and even the rows of …
