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Articles
Anti-Wokeness: An Obituary
During Barack Obama’s presidency, several political movements arose that were to define America long after he had left the scene. The first was organized around a new view of...
The Scandal of Jewish Belief
The Gospel of Matthew ends with this promise of Jesus to his disciples: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age”—an eternal covenant. Now imagine...
The Sudden Death of the African Church
Total civilizational collapse is unusual. In the West, continuity exists between the Roman past and our contemporary states, despite the invasions of “barbarian” groups. The Franks, that ancient people...
Ban the Books
Walk into a bookstore anywhere in the country. Chances are that, somewhere toward the front, you’ll see a glossy display table labeled “Banned Books.” The same is true for...
Holding Things Together
So many streets around me are ugly. I do a lot of walking and jogging. I notice the trash, the little (or often larger) piles of dust and dirt...
A Dreadful Humility
At some point we must give up trying to understand other people. Love them, surely. But recognize that such a love cannot be based on comprehension. We need always...
Scout’s Honor
My six-year-old son wants to join the Scouts, but I have mixed feelings. As an Eagle Scout, I am sympathetic to his attraction to pocketknives, campfires, the fellowship of...
Why I Became Orthodox
Bulbous onion domes topped the Corinthian columns, and baroque stucco architraves lit up the drowsy city toward the end of day. The clock struck five as I approached the...
Our Strange Catholic Moment
American Catholicism is in steep decline. In 2000, 2.6 million American children attended Catholic schools. In 2025, only 1.6 million did. In 2001, more than a quarter-million Catholic weddings...
Why Me?
I visited a friend of mine a few years ago. He was a deeply faithful theologian, but without much success in his profession. Deeply devoted to each other, he and...
The Education of Cole Tomas Allen
The most terrifying and telling contemporary piece of American writing is about a thousand words long. It wasn’t composed by one of our better poets or novelists, nor was...
God and Man at MIT
The pamphleteers are hard to miss. They stand in front of the big doors of Lobby 7, MIT’s main entrance, waving, preaching, and flagging down passersby with all the...
Faith-Based Failures
On January 24, 2025, Mukhtar Mohamed Shariff was sentenced to seventeen years in prison for his role in a $250 million fraud scheme. Along with other members of the...
Return of the Nobles
Here, perhaps, is the greatest problem we face these days: Everything is full. Saunter over to your favorite bar for that longed-for bone-dry martini, and the waiter will inform...
Boomer–Zoomer Housing War
When I heard the price the retired man was asking for his home, a full $80,000 over online estimates of its value, I flinched. The market is hot in our small town, but was it that good?...