It is not life’s busyness that eats the life out of the soul, if by “busyness” one means simply having a lot to do. To be human is to have a lot to do. What wears down the inner life is the near-impossibility of sustained concentration on any one thing in a world in [...]

Last night, some friends and I were enjoying the late spring night while discussing the current economic situation.  One fellow was lamenting the loss of manufacturing jobs to countries like Mexico and China, jobs that created the middle class of this country not too long ago.  America is becoming less and less a nation that [...]

This post is a draft of a presentation to be given on opening night at the Long Island Movie Night event.
Why, as Reformed Christians, do we watch movies? What justification, if any, can we give for spending a couple of hours at a time sitting passively in front of a screen? Beyond that, how can [...]

Orthodoxy is not often considered in conjunction with creativity; in fact, orthodoxy and originality are frequently taken to be inimical. It is my contention, however, that the two should kiss and make up, as justice and mercy do.
The reason that doctrinal/practical fidelity is thought to be at odds with innovation is simply this: in almost [...]

This week I began reading Douglas Jones and Douglas Wilson’s Angels In The Architecture for a small group study.  Previously we had read Plowing In Hope: Towards a Christian Theology of Culture by Bruce Hegeman, which, while I did not agree with everything the author postulated, I found to be very helpful and thought provoking.  [...]

Vol.94 of the Mars Hill Audio Journal contains an interview with Andy Crouch on Christian culture making.  He raises some good points about the terminology we sometimes use when talking about Christian culture building, and even some of the goals we may have: can any person or group really change the culture?  Food for thought.
As [...]

Matthew J. Milliner has written a great article at First Things, entitled Cold-Blooded Christianity, dealing with rise of Pentecostalism in the “Global South” and what it means for the longevity of Christian culture.  He points to T.S. Eliot’s Christianity And Culture as the manifesto of a Christian “turtle”, a metaphor he uses to describe one [...]