The Obama campaign, fictionalized
Vinson Cunningham’s debut novel focuses on a campaign staffer’s indeterminate views, using them to shed light on the rise of a political star.
What happened to US politics?
John Ganz explores the gritty political and cultural trends that erupted in the early 1990s and set the stage for the present.
A pastor’s disappointments
Amy Butler’s memoir is a story of relentless striving and continued failures. In other words, it’s a story of the church.
The Court’s embrace of the divine right of presidents
In the Trump v. United States oral arguments, the conservative justices sought what Justice Gorsuch called “a rule for the ages”—one that doesn’t impair the sovereign grandeur of presidential power.
What comes after clergy self-care?
I didn’t need more candles or journaling. I needed solidarity with others.
On never posting (1 Corinthians 8:1-13)
Food offered to idols is not really a live issue for us, but social media usage is.
January 28, Epiphany 4B (Mark 1:21–28)
All those years in scribe school count for nothing when one rustic with charisma comes along!
When they actually listen (Jonah 3:1-5, 10)
There’s something that’s even stranger than being a prophet.
January 21, Epiphany 3B (Mark 1:14–20)
The gospels don’t depict John as much of an organization builder.
All things lawful (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)
Is it possible to read Paul as an early exponent of a wellness ethic for sexuality?
January 14, Epiphany 2B (John 1:43–51)
Jesus’ word of insight to Nathanael seems a lot like a carnival grift.
The Crown abdicates without a successor
My viewing experience recapitulated a running theme of the show: the question, Why are we doing this?
Why is progressive activism so ineffective?
Fredrik deBoer explains why the mobilization of 2020 produced so few concrete gains.
The genealogy of selfhood
From the Renaissance to Kim Kardashian, Tara Isabella Burton tells a story of limitless, ruthless self-creation.
Fantasy and reality after Roe
One can imagine an anti-abortion politics that started with economic solidarity or righteous fury at male sexual license. But the thought experiment only demonstrates its own absurdity.