The Logic of the Cross in Michel Tournier’s “The Ogre”
In the realm of Catholic or Christian literature, one question I have never seen confronted directly is whether a writer necessarily needs to be devout within a…
Beyond Josephus: A Review of Guy MacLean Rogers’s “For the Freedom of Zion”
Guy MacLean Rogers. For the Freedom of Zion: The Great Revolt of Jews Against Romans, 66–74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022. The Jewish War…
One Breath: A Poem
Somewhere in the antipodean blue The old salt sea rustles anonymously Darkened by nocturnal ink Busy and dark the currents, the old fingers Wedge themselves into sea…
Religion and the Postmodern Student
For this semester I will be offering my reflections on an introductory, freshmen-level course on western core texts that I am teaching. By the second week…
Hope for the Sacred Vision: A Review of “Toward a Sacramental Poetics”
Toward A Sacramental Poetics. Edited by Regina M. Schwartz and Patrick J. McGrath. South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press, 2021. Commuting into the city on…
Once More Into the Breach: A Review of Matt Walsh’s “Church of Cowards”
Matt Walsh. Church of Cowards. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2022; 2020. In May of 1994, a group of Christians signed an agreement titled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.”…
A Prolegomena to Reading the New Testament: “Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament”
Todd Still and Jason Myers, eds. Rhetoric, History, and Theology: Interpreting the New Testament. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2022. “Any scholar approaching the New Testament is confronted…
The Kiss of God
Nowadays, on Wednesday evenings, I drive to the local Chabad, when I can manage it, to study the Parshah (section from the Pentateuch being read during that…
The Capable Human Being: Giving and Receiving in the life and Thought of Paul Ricoeur
French philosopher Paul Ricoeur (1913–2005) was born in Valence, Drôme. He came from a devout family of Huguenots (a Protestant minority). He was orphaned at an early…
The Pain of Separation
Disaggregation. It’s the polysyllabic term for what I need to do: separate out and deal with the present pileup of life challenges, each of which is new…
Our Man in Paris: Why Tocqueville Still Matters
Alexis De Tocqueville was not an American. But as a political observer and theorist, he is more American than any American; he is also the quintessential writer…
Remembering the Long Struggle for Freedom of Conscience: A Review of Stephen M. Davis’ “The French Huguenots and the Wars of Religion”
Stephen M. Davis. The French Huguenots and Wars of Religion: Three Centuries of Resistance for Freedom of Conscience. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2021. Stephen M.…
Emmanuel Levinas: Horizons on the Face of the ‘Other’
Emmanuel Levinas (1905-1995) was a French Jewish philosopher born in Kaunas, Lithuania. He studied philosophy in Strasburg, France. In 1940 he was captured by the Nazis and…
An Interview with Sarah Cortez, Author of “The Carlucci Betrayal”
Sarah Cortez is a retired Texas police officer currently serving in the police reserves after full time active duty in the Patrol Division. She is the author…
Are We Doomed to a Rationalist, Loveless, Future? A Review of Harris Bor’s “Staying Human”
Harris Bor. Staying Human: A Jewish Theology for the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2021. Science Fiction is the dominant cultural mythos of…