Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Vocation

July 10, 2014

Ex-Im Bank and the Unseen Costs of Political Privilege

With its authorization charter expiring at the end of September, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has come under increased scrutiny from rabble-rousers and the hum-drum alike. An otherwise obscure fixture in the grand scheme of federal-government corporatism, Ex-Im finances and insures (i.e. Continue Reading...
July 07, 2014

Reclaiming the Honor of Craftsmanship

As economic prosperity has increased, and as the American economy has transitioned from agrarian to industrial to information-driven, manual labor has been increasingly cast down in the popular imagination. When our youth navigate and graduate from high school, they receive pressure from all directions to excel in particular areas and attend a four-year college, typically in pursuit of “white-collar” work. Continue Reading...
July 03, 2014

Beware of Self-Willed Religion

Last week, I wrote about the danger of self-chosen sacrifice, channeling evangelist Oswald Chambers, who warns us to “never decide the place of your own martyrdom.” “Always guard against self-chosen service for God,” he continues. Continue Reading...
July 02, 2014

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

In the latest video blog from For the Life of the World, Evan Koons reads a beautiful poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins over some striking visual imagery. Watch it below: Hopkins begins by highlighting the wondrous and mysterious pulse of nature, moving eventually to the acts of we “mortal things,” prone to appease the self, and bent on crying, “Whát I dó is me: for that I came.” Continue Reading...
July 01, 2014

The Root of All Freedoms: Kuyper on Freedom of Conscience

The Obama administration’s HHS mandate has led to significant backlash among religious groups, each claiming that certain provisions violate their religious beliefs and freedom of conscience. Yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling was a victory for such groups, but other disputes are well underway, with many more to come. Continue Reading...
June 27, 2014

Finding Meaning in Blue-Collar Work

Over at the Patheos Faith and Work Channel, Larry Saunders shares about his journey from pastor to grocery-store clerk to blue-collar factory worker to current MBA student in search of a white-collar job, offering deep and personal reflections on faith, work, and meaning along the way. Continue Reading...
June 24, 2014

The School of Love: How the Family Teaches Flourishing

In the first episode of For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles, Evan Koons discovers a new approach to Christian cultural engagement. Revolving around “God’s economy of all things,” he proceeds to explore six key areas of human engagement, one in each episode, including the economies of love, creative service, order, wisdom, and wonder, and, finally, through the church herself — an organism and institution that runs before and beyond all else. Continue Reading...