August 2017
On Marilynne Robinson’s Lila
In Marilynne Robinson's Lila, we are meant to see ourselves writ large: pitiful and scared, and not quite sure where we stand with God, or how we found ourselves here, in this house, tending to the garden, living this sort of life.
Kate Massinger | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016
Why States Fail: Lessons from Augustine
If we can ascertain our nature, we can begin to understand what makes societies perpetually problematic.
Jeffrey Poomkudy | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2017
Nonviolent Action and the Revolution of the Cross
In fact, in line with this trend of “questioning institutions”, MIT has recently announced a $250,000 award to further encourage “extraordinary civil, non-violent disobedience for the benefit of society.” But why is this all happening?
Matthew Chun | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2017May 2017
April 2017
February 2017
January 2017
November 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
Forgiveness and Justice
We do not forgive because we seek to appease white America who feels guilt and shame for not speaking out that black lives matter.
Emani Pollard | The Cornell Claritas | Fall 2015
Christian Morality and Euthyphro’s Dilemma
The changing views of society on these and other issues have to some been evidence of our moral improvement and enlightenment, and to others a sign of moral deterioration.
Richard Ibekwe | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2016May 2016
March 2016
January 2016
November 2015
March 2015
January 2015
September 2014
August 2014
The Westboro Baptist Church: Rebellion Gone Wrong
Simply put, the WBC expresses hate towards groups that do not adhere to their teachings and stances.
Daniel Abarca | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2013
Screwtape on Prefrosh
Unseat the desire for truth in your patient and replace it with a desire for academic respect, and your job is half done.
Judith Huang | The Harvard Ichthus | Summer 2011 - Special issue for the incoming class of 2015
Escaping the Prison of Guilt
It is important to acknowledge the harm that our sins cause, but the depth of one’s guilt should not be a standard for one’s moral worth.
Marcos Martinez | | The Columbia Cross & CrossJune 2014
The Problem with Passivity
"If you aren’t okay with murder, then don’t murder anyone." Something tells me that this statement would not be a popular political position to take. Or maybe it would.
Natalie Hejduk | Princeton Revisions | Fall 2013
Costly Consolation: Freud’s Illusion and Bonhoefferian Grace
Sigmund Freud once wrote that the idea of religion is “born from man’s need to make his helplessness tolerable.”
Paul Escher | St. Olaf Avodah | Spring 2014February 2014
January 2014
Love Your Enemies: A Radical Call to Christian Pacifism
“But!” you cry – I can almost hear it now – what about saving society from criminals, and children from murderers, and Europe from Hitler, and America from the Terrorists? In sum, what about all the innocent people whom we have a duty to protect from the evildoers?
Nathan Otey | The Harvard Ichthus | Spring 2013
The Problem of Good: Is Christianity Necessary?
Just as people have taken the presence of evil as a reason to question the validity of Christianity, so also people have seen the presence of good as inconsistent with Christianity’s message.
Nathaniel Schmucker | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2013December 2013
A Religious Animal?
How to understand the story of the Fall while accepting that death, too, was there from the beginning of life on earth?
Stephen Mackereth | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2013
Salvific Suffering and the Dark Night of the Soul
We have begun to “anaesthetize our existence,” writes biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson. Our public discourse often assumes that the most difficult lives are simply not worth living.
Robert Smith | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2013October 2013
Why Jesus?
J.R.R. Tolkien has undoubtedly captivated the heart of many in his Middle Earth saga, The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s ability to resonate with his audience lies in his tale’s appeal to human nature itself.
Mako Nagasawa | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2012
On Money
We accept Paul’s claim that the love of money is the root of all evil, but we know that that verse does not entail us to shun money itself as an evil. Money, at the end of the day, is also part of His Creation, and all things were created for His glory.
Richard Lee and April Koh | The Yale Logos | Winter 2012
The Divine Attributes: Why an Imperfect God Just Won’t Do
Yoram Hazony’s version of apophaticism restricts theists to a kind of fideism, wherein our rational concept “God,” a human construct, is radically divorced from the subject of our faith, the non-conceptual, personal God. The result is confused, even contradictory.
Chris Hauser | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2013July 2013
May 2013
April 2013
Why Is There Winter In Narnia?
Why is there winter? And second, what needs to happen for the life-giving thaw of spring to return? In other words, what is the origin of what is wrong with the world, and what is the solution to it?
Nick Norwalk | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2012, Volume 8, Number 3.
The Idolatry of Wealth and Reevaluation of Treasure
Christians are called to be good stewards rather than owners of their material blessings, multiplying them in accordance to their ability. A lively faith requires the investment of both material goods and ability for the benefit of God.
Katelyn Chan | The Yale Logos | Winter 2012February 2013
November 2012
October 2012
Christians, Pagans, and the Good Life
In contrast to the three most influential worldviews of the Roman world— Gnosticism, Stoicism, Neoplatonism—Christianity proclaimed that our earthly realm and needs were of tremendous importance to both our humanity and God.
Suiwen Liang | The Dartmouth Apologia | Volume 6, Issue 2 - Spring 2012
Physics and the Idea of God
The way in which we think the natural laws work suggests a new way of thinking about God and how God may act in the world: energizing, guiding, and holding all things together.
Prof. Stuart Crampton | The Williams Telos | Spring 2011, Issue 5September 2012
August 2012
Is Anything Worth Believing In? A Review of a Conversation with John Lennox
God could have easily made a universe in which bad things didn’t happen. However, Lennox argues that “the one thing you will not get in an automated, robotic, computerized universe is love, relationship, and so on... In order to have the possibility of love or relationship, you must create the possibility of choice.”
Sarah Banks | The UPenn Lamp Post | Issue 01, Spring 2012
Mustard Seed Faith
Confirmation bias is a psychological phenomenon which describes our tendency to seek out information that confirms our opinions and beliefs while avoiding information that contradicts what we believe. I take a lot more time on each page when I’m reading C.S. Lewis compared to Richard Dawkins.
Andy Morgosh | The Williams Telos | Spring 2012
The Incarnation
Christianity doesn’t preach a distant God who turned a blind eye to mankind, but rather tells of a God who became a man himself. God didn’t simply send a message; He became the messenger. We recall this momentous occasion – the divine incarnation – each year at Christmas.
Jordan Monge | The Harvard Ichthus | Volume 7, Number 4, Winter 2011February 2012
January 2012
Faith and Fiction
The relationship between fiction and faith has had its difficult moments. The Index Librorum Prohibitorum was abolished by the Catholic Church only fifty years ago, and there were even recent stories of pastors burning Harry Potter books when the series started skyrocketing in popularity. Clearly the people instituting banned books lists and instigating book burnings believe in the capacity for fiction to corrupt. Curiously, in denouncing fiction’s potentially degrading influence, they are also acknowledging its power.
Stephen Kim | The Yale Logos | Winter 2011
Faith and Paradox: G.K. Chesterton’s Philosophy of Christian Paradox
Within its long history, Christianity has been accused of almost every kind of vice imaginable. Strangely enough, its critics have attacked it for contradictory reasons. Some have decried it for its unworldliness and pessimistic outlook on the material world. Others have condemned Christianity for blinding the people, giving false promises of divine mercy and a glorious afterlife. Hell, it is said, is a doctrine breeding despair; but Heaven, they say with equal vehemence, is a doctrine breeding false hope.
Chris Hauser | The Dartmouth Apologia | Volume 6, Issue 1, Fall 2011