On false compassion
The challenge when debating a liberal Christian is that he is bound by neither Scripture nor tradition but sentiment. He is therefore free to embrace
Phantom limbs and other lost things
Some of you may like my essay at Good Letters. An excerpt: “Sometimes this broken world hacks away at our flesh. Other times it hands
The scandal of the evangelical intellectual’s mind
A reasonable response to the accusation that the evangelical mind is insufficiently expansive is to ask to what dimensions its critics would like to see
Cheaper by the dozen
There is a difference between being anti-intellectual and being anti-intellect, and this is where Russell Jacoby foundered, in his essay last year about the lack
In defense of The Hobbit
Look, it’s not like The Hobbit is Holy Scripture. It’s not even, last I checked, part of the Apocrypha. It seems to me that the
Gays, Boy Scouts, and dogma
The Boy Scouts of America is considering an end to its prohibition against homosexual troop leaders, deferring that decision to local councils. Sexual molestation! cry
Slippery words
You might like my latest post at Good Letters. An excerpt: “We are used to words not meaning anything, you see, and so who cares
Literally small-minded
Granted, playwright turned conservative-screed artist David Mamet lately comes across like that kid in philosophy class who just got hold of Atlas Shrugged and believes everyone
Hell and Christmas
There is nothing to be done but weep. Cry out for the children with bodies shattered, for the ones covered in blood not their own,
Elect art
My latest short story is in the current edition of Image, for those of you with a literary bent. And for those of you bent
Problem-rushers
We’re trying to find an office manager, and so I’ve had to articulate what makes for a good employee. This is a treacherous and particularized
Childlike
Back when I thought I knew something about God, I sought arguments. God is this, and God is not that, and those scriptures you think
