Latest Posts

March 22, 2013

Church, Culture, and the Gospel as Pearl and Leaven

Over at the Hang Together blog, Greg Forster takes a long look at the images of the gospel as “pearl” and “leaven” and the implications for Christian engagement and creation of culture, particularly within the context of the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate: The main difficulty we seem to have in discussing Christian cultural activity is the strain between two anxieties. Continue Reading...
March 21, 2013

The Legacy of Racism and Surrogate Decision-Making

In 1989, Erol Ricketts, a researcher with the Rockefeller Foundation, found that between 1890 and 1950, blacks had higher marriage rates than whites, according to the U.S. Census. The report, titled “The Origin of Black Female-Headed Families,” published in the Spring/Summer issue of Focus(32-37), provides an overview that highlights an important question. Continue Reading...
March 21, 2013

Nuns, 60 Minutes, Go After Rep. Paul Ryan

Last week’s spike in gasoline prices hasn’t slowed Nuns on the Bus a whit. The nuns and Network, their parent organization, are squeezing every drop of mileage out of their new-found fame, which has more to do with supporting liberal causes than reflecting church principles of caring for the poor and limiting government’s role in the private sector. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2013

Video: Rev. Sirico on Avoiding Economic Disaster

The Montreal Economic Institute produces a “Free Market Series” of videos interviewing experts such as Michael Fairbanks and Steve Forbes. This video highlights the Rev. Robert Sirico discussing the role of free markets in economics, and the false sense of utopia offered by other economic systems. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2013

Rough Work Must Be Done

Joseph Sunde’s fine post today on vocation examines the dynamic between work and toil, the former corresponding to God’s creational ordinance and the latter referring to the corruption of that ordinance in light of the Fall into sin. Continue Reading...
March 20, 2013

Religious Liberty is for Money-Makers Too

Increasingly, governments and private parties are arguing that there is only one appropriate view of the relationship between religion and money-making: Exercising religion is fundamentally incompatible with earning profits. This claim has been presented recently by state governments and private parties in litigation over pharmacy rights of conscience, and by state governments enacting conscience clauses with regard to recognizing same-sex marriages (non-profits are sometimes protected, but never profit-makers). Continue Reading...