Features
I mourned Annie Dillard as if I knew her personally
Writers are mirror makers. They use words to create a sheen onto which we see all manner of reflections.
The price of virtue
It is often easier to do good or be good if you are rich. Just ask Job.
We keep turning women into monsters
Reading Eleanor Johnson’s new book while watching the Lindsay Clancy trial, I realized we’re still using the same ancient myths against women.
Hildegard’s living stones
The 12th-century polymath’s worldview exposes the limits of our supposedly enlightened one.
Where the salmon run again
In the Pacific Northwest, an era of dam removal has begun.
Annie Dillard’s unrestrained hallelujah
The visionary writer showed us that paying attention could make us certain that the world is holy.
Understanding polyamory
Alternatives to monogamous marriage are going mainstream. How will Christians respond?
Beauty and how to see it
Reading Van Gogh’s letters has helped me uncover a deeper, more textured theological understanding.
A sacred migration to a changing future
Colonialism wants to keep Native America locked in the closet of the past. But we have something important to say about the present—and about what comes next.
Wendell Berry’s vision of a sacred world
Experience, reading, and the daily rounds of farm work taught Wendell that scripture is correct: Every creature and every inch of earth is made and approved by God.
What Gen Z knows about the church
It’s not that they know nothing; it’s just that we don’t like to talk about what they know.
Dolly Parton’s faith was hard to measure
But it was at the heart of her immeasurable legacy.
How much is too much?
In the fourth century, Basil of Caesarea argued that wealth doesn’t just tempt the rich. At some point it warps their ability to see the world at all.
What the border wall does
I went to Tijuana with a group of US Christians to confront the theology embodied by a steel barrier three stories tall.
Douglas Wilson’s theology of victim blaming
The Christian nationalist pastor proposes that women are responsible for preventing men from committing sexual violence—by being subservient to them.
My dying best friend’s wedding
She collapsed on the sidewalk the night of my wedding. Eighteen months later, I stood by her hospital bed and offered to plan hers.