Latest Posts

August 21, 2024

European Discontent: Immigration and National Identity

Recently, I toured a notable American cathedral that, as a parish, had been founded by pre–Revolutionary War French immigrants. When our group came to a panel that included images of four martyrs who had evangelized different European peoples, our docent told us the story of St. Continue Reading...
August 20, 2024

Why I Slept on the Streets for a Year

Poverty has always been part of my life. First, in my own family: we were considerably poor, and I spent my entire childhood surrounded by poverty. Over the years, while pastoring a church and training new pastors at seminary, I became involved in relief projects for those who were even poorer than I was. Continue Reading...
August 15, 2024

No, Socialism Is Not Neighborliness

Незнакомые смотрят волками, И один из них, может быть, я. —Борис Гребенщиков Strangers glare like wolves, And I might be one of them. —Boris Grebenshikov The Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz entered the national scene with a passive-aggressive endorsement of government-run economic activity. Continue Reading...
August 13, 2024

A Revolution Captured on Canvas

In John Adams’ estimation, the American Revolution began with an argument in a back room in Boston. “Who of your profession will undertake to paint a Debate or an Argument?” the former president asked of the artist John Trumbull in a letter in 1817. Continue Reading...
August 07, 2024

The Historic Creeds vs. Passing Theological Fads

Evangelical Christians sometimes struggle with how best to enforce “orthodoxy.” The past century of Protestant history could be written as a story of attempts to define what’s essential and what’s debatable on issues from the Bible’s “inerrancy” to more recent controversies over marriage, sexuality, and women’s ordination as pastors. Continue Reading...
August 06, 2024

Four Economic Lessons from Plato’s Republic

When we consider the origin of the fundamental principles of economics, most of us think of Adam Smith and his Wealth of Nations. Smith arguably pioneered economics as its own discipline with this groundbreaking articulation of the workings of the free market. Continue Reading...
August 02, 2024

Inside Out 2: Fluff, Hijinks—and Exactly the Right Message

My generation’s worst habits are finally being put under the magnifying glass. Social media addiction is getting national attention, from the surgeon general of the United States advising a warning label, to some of the biggest school districts in the country straight-up banning children from using cellphones during the school day. Continue Reading...