Features
An accomplished soldier, fired for no reason
Sergeant First Class Kate Cole isn’t an activist. She isn’t a radical. She’s a trans woman, a rock climber, and my friend—and after 17 years of military service, Trump kicked her out.
An uneasy calm at the border
Is an invasion still an invasion if there are no invaders?
Alasdair MacIntyre retains his power to shock
Reading After Virtue as a student was a revelation. As his colleague, I continued to learn from him.
A call to solidarity at Duke
At graduation, we faculty members looked at one another across the aisle, wondering which of us would be, in the university president’s words, “pruned and thinned.”
A road trip to Noah’s Ark
My in-laws took the whole family to a monument to young earth creationism. What could go wrong?
Still seeking justice for George Floyd
Five years after an infamous murder, George Floyd Square in Minneapolis remains a site of protest, lament, and mutual aid.
A theologian without a school of thought
Douglas John Hall was an important thinker who was deeply shaped by the company he kept—and by the labels he resisted.
Nicene myths
The Athanasians won, so they got to tell the story of Arianism. Arius would barely have recognized it.
Trump’s imperial golden age
Augustus and Nero also offered peace and security for those who fell in line. Paul critiques them in his epistle to the Romans.
Why does J. D. Vance want more American babies?
Pronatalists fixate on tomorrow’s imaginary children. Baptism demands that we care for those already born.
Black Church is my mother tongue
To speak Black Church is to dwell in a world of metaphors about a God who is engaged in the lives of Black people.
Doubting Thomases in an age of science
It takes courage to plunge our hands smack-dab into the side of the universe and reach for a God that could be real.
Tolkien 2.0
The fantasy writer’s vast theological and philosophical universe is unfolding in the hands of artists, scholars, and game designers.
Mourning Pope Francis—and his limits
As a progressive Catholic, I admired Francis. As a woman and a feminist, I was often disappointed by him.
Running toward Jesus
Raised Pentecostal, I was wary of Catholicism. Pope Francis gave me the final nudge I needed.
Evangelical fantasies in Amish country
I grew up in the Quiverfull movement. In the tourism industry of Shipshewana, Indiana, I see a lot that looks familiar.