Latest Posts

January 03, 2024

Stop Pulling Punches Against Anti-Racism

One of the most telling quotes I’ve heard regarding the conservative movement on racial issues comes from political commentator Candace Owens’ Twitter bio: “Black people don’t have to be Democrats—still.” It epitomizes the modern conservative disconnect: we are very, very good at criticizing existing political visions and are conversely very, very bad at creating alternate ones that appeal to people not on our side. Continue Reading...
December 28, 2023

An Inferno for Our Times

Dante’s purpose in writing the Divine Comedy is placed in the mouth of Virgil a mere 76 lines into Canto I of the Inferno. The poet questions his charge’s malaise at his seemingly hopeless state: “But you, why are you turning back to misery? Continue Reading...
December 27, 2023

A Fine Primer on Universal Basic Income

Universal basic income (UBI), freedom dividends, permanent fund dividends, guaranteed income … these are all names that have been used over the past 200 years to describe the same essential policy proposition: to provide a permanent income to citizens from their government. Continue Reading...
December 25, 2023

Santa Claus vs. Artemis: A Christmas Story

As we deck the halls with boughs of holly this year, read the story of Christ’s Nativity, sing hymns and carols, exchange gifts, and light our homes in increasingly irrational competition verging on mutually assured destruction with our neighbors, we must not lose sight of the real “reason for the season”: Santa’s victory over the pagan goddess Artemis. Continue Reading...
December 22, 2023

Going My Way: An Enduring True Fairy Tale

Every Christmas, I try to write about Christmas movies, especially about old Hollywood, because the best directors at the time considered it worthwhile to make movies that would chastise and cheer up the nation, indeed remind people of the spirit of Christmas and thus try to fit Christianity into the new entertainment that dominated the American imagination. Continue Reading...
December 21, 2023

Machiavelli and the Invention of Modernity

Harvey Mansfield recently retired from his position at Harvard University after a long and storied career. He’s almost an institution himself, well-known for hard grading, demanding teaching, a book on manliness long after such things were permissible, and superb translations of Tocqueville and Machiavelli. Continue Reading...
December 20, 2023

Cultural Christians and the Work of Remembering

Let me begin where I’ll also end: Nadya Williams’ latest book, Cultural Christians in the Early Church (Zondervan), is a masterful exercise in historical research, a compelling portrait of early Christians who professed Jesus with their words but not with their actions. Continue Reading...
December 19, 2023

William Wilberforce: Abolitionist, Reformer, Evangelical

On February 24, 1807, the House of Commons voted by 283 votes to 16 to end the trade in human slaves in all British territories. The outcome was testimony to the tenacity, zeal, and commitment of the most prominent evangelical Member of Parliament at the end of the 18th century, William Wilberforce (1759–1833). Continue Reading...
December 18, 2023

The Trial of Jimmy Lai

Jimmy Lai is no ordinary political protester. The 76-year-old Hong Kong entrepreneur and newspaper publisher has sat in solitary confinement in 35-pound handcuffs for more than 1,000 days as he prepares for the trial of his life. Continue Reading...