A Welcome Reformation: In Praise of Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life”

Through my journey, I have come to believe that the same empire of fear that drives millions of football players to unnecessarily run the risk of traumatic brain injury also drives innumerable religious devotees into a wall of shame.

Kenneth Lucas Dodd | Cal Poly Aletheia | Winter 2019

Character Doubling in Marilynne Robinson’s Home: Salvation, Predestination, and Grace

The doubling of Jack and Glory reminds us that stereotypes and outward appearances are no indication of the state of one’s soul. There is always far more to the story.

Jenna Watson | The Wheaton Pub | Fall 2018

Pursuing Unity in Diversity

Instead of ignoring the reality of our physical differences and the history of oppression and racism caused by these differences, my hope is that awareness of our common misperceptions about race can be the first step in recognizing and understanding what racism itself is and how we can combat it.

Grace Liu | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2018

The Strange Persistence of Guilt: A Q&A with Wilfred McClay

"Guilt is a key aspect of what might be called our moral nervous system. It alerts us to our failures, and pushes us to make them right in some way."

Lynette Long | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2017

Against (Our Own) Heresies

[Heresy] starts with a narrow selective reading of scripture that is then over-emphasized and serves as a tangential point for one’s own desires.

Erik Johnson | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2018

An Interview with Jonathan Moo

"I think the reason Christians care for creation can be summarized by loving God and loving our neighbor, and in the process discovering who we were created to be."

Siobhan McDonough | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2017

DAMN: Kendrick Lamar’s Radical Lament

Kendrick Lamar is currently one of the world’s most talented lyricists, a generational storyteller, and a Christian grappling with eternal condemnation.

Kion You | The Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Spring 2018

God’s Heart Towards Individuals With Disabilities

Most of us believe that inclusion of individuals with disabilities matters. However, Christianity takes this belief a step further and in a different direction.

Mimi Cole | Vanderbilt Synesis | Spring 2018

Friend of Sinners

Jesus was known to be a friend of sinners, and his life has encouraged me to do the same in my work within the criminal justice system–to befriend them, encourage them, and find them worthy of healing, rehabilitation, and forgiveness.

Brittany Krippner | CalPoly Aletheia | Spring 2018

The Peculiar Shape of Christian Identity

For Christians, personal identity is story-shaped (not abstract), derivative (not intrinsic), other-centered (not autonomous), and incomplete (not fully available to us in the here and now).

Teal McGarvey and Nick Nowalk | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2016

Searching for the Ear of God

I myself reckoned with the reality I faced: I also thought prayer was sort of stupid. It certainly felt stupid, primarily for two reasons.

Jesse Rines | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2017

What is Justice?

If Jesus’ loving death on the cross becomes the Christian archetype of justice, our vision has more in common with Socrates’ than with Thrasymachus’ or Cephalus’.

Luke Foster | The Yale Logos | Spring 2016

In Pursuit of Morality

The indicative and imperative grammar moods convey the fundamental truth in Christianity that how a person becomes more moral is through the foundational work of God transforming the person.

Joshua Jeon | Cornell Claritas | Spring 2016

Self, Society, and the Trinitarian Posture

The Christian understanding of human nature instead presents a picture that merges collectivism and individualism into one coherent whole.

Amanda Wang | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2016

Letting Law Go? A Lutheran Perspective on Law in “Frozen”

By analyzing Elsa’s changing understanding of law, as it relates to her moral duties to her kingdom and to her sister, we hope to show how Frozen can be interpreted through the paradigm of Luther’s conception of law.

Luke Shurson and Alexander Quanbeck | St Olaf Avodah | Spring 2015

John Calvin and the Case for Refugees

Central to Calvin’s social policy was an intense devotion to the less fortunate in society. However they may present themselves, whether as orphans or widows or refugees, Calvin believed that he had a solemn and God-given duty to care for them.

Noah Black | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2016

The Integration of Modern Psychology and the Philosophical Virtues in the Christian Worldview

A psychological professional who is truly concerned for an individual’s well-being ought to awaken them to a sense of their human dignity, to help them recognize disorders in their lives, and to accompany them along the path of healing and self-discovery.

Blake Tamez | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Fall 2016

The Year of Mercy: A Retrospective

Before the summer of 2016 began, I remember telling my spiritual director that I felt God wanted to teach me about mercy, especially with my favorite job: counseling a local summer camp for kids.

Michael Miskovski | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Spring 2017

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

“Scientia Potentia Est”

Scientia potentia est, more commonly known as “knowledge is power,” is an aphorism suggesting that higher forms of knowledge correlate with greater power.

Lauren Hall | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2017

On the Dignity of Sex

I myself have felt resentment and bitterness towards notions of “purity” and “chastity,” and rejected them as highly antiquated concepts that only objectified people.

A. S. Bethel | UC Berkeley TAUG | Spring 2017

Prophecy, Progress, and Repentance: The Role of the Individual in Human History

Therefore, prophecy is primarily concerned with what may occur if the errant currents of the present are allowed to flow unaltered into the local or temporally proximal future.

Jake Casale | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2016

The Heart of Man is Not Compound of Lies: Redemptive Sacrifice Found in Fictional Literature

Joseph Campbell, a 20th-century scholar of mythology and religion, wrote that myths indicate the universal search for meaning, as well as reflect the journey of each individual.

Lydia Anderson | CalPoly Aletheia | Fall 2016

Engineering for God and Humanity

This past January, I had the opportunity to conduct field research on amputees through a partnership with two of India’s most impactful non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for people with disabilities.

Matthew Chun | MIT et Spiritus | Spring 2016

Blessed Are the Poor: Debunking the Protestant Work Ethic

Insofar as Christians began to treat wealth earned through hard work as a sign of salvation, they were departing from what had been historically believed and taught.

Roger Yu | The Vanderbilt Synesis | Spring 2016

God’s Justice: A Shifting Standard?

If Noah and Abraham were just before God because they were sinless, it would theoretically be possible for any human being at any point in history to be just in the same way.

Dinnie Ee | The Yale Logos | Spring 2016

Forgiveness: Unjust and Illogical?

How, then, do we address the seeming injustice in forgiveness? Is forgiveness inherently a legitimization of wrong?

Tori Campbell | The Yale Logos | Spring 2016

Approaching a Christocentric View of Wealth

To the casual onlooker skeptical of the Catholic Church’s wealth, the concern is not how beautiful their churches are, but the cost at which they were built.

Joshua Tseng-Tham | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2015

An Interview with Tim Nelson: Christianity and Social Justice

"The pattern of the world is to segregate, to separate, to dominate, for people to try to get as much as they can for themselves."

Karl Johnson | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2016

God, Good, and Evil

We must look for a foundation that incorporates within itself the moral laws we look for, not deriving itself from them as the societal laws do.

Samuel Cooper | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2016

The Suspense of Faith

But the doubt expressed by Arnold and Russell is not limited to those who decide finally to reject god.

Karl Johnson | The Hopkins Dialectic | Spring 2016

The Sin of Adam: Two Allegorical Accounts of the Fall

Recovering the literal sense of the Greek hamartia—translated in our Bibles as "sin"—we have "missed the mark."

Erin Kast | Swarthmore Peripateo | Spring 2015

Knowing Christ through Musical Worship

I don’t know whether this connection is deep and natural for others, but for me, it has always made sense: God and song, song and God.

Lilian Chow | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Spring 2015

Kyrios Christos: The Lordship of Jesus Christ Today

Profession of a “lord” is not merely religious language for adoration on some spiritual plane; it is also a matter of social and political protest.

Michael F. Bird | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2014

And He Began to Teach Them Many Things

An interview with Professor Matthew Harrison, who previously wrote an article called "Invited to Care" about his calling to teach mathematics to those in prison.

Elizabeth Jean-Marie | The Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Spring 2015

Breaking Christians’ Silence on Racism

In the wake of Michael Brown’s shooting in August 2014, there was a noticeable dearth of active, grassroots Christian involvement in the racial conversation in Ferguson, Missouri and the rest of the United States.

Jessica Tong | The Dartmouth Apologia | Spring 2015

Freedom Redefined: A Christian Perspective on the Meaning of Freedom

While it is paradoxical that something so rigid-sounding as “law” results in freedom, Christianity asserts this bold claim.

Marissa Le Coz | The Dartmouth Apologia | Fall 2014

Education for Liberty

I believe the Core actually holds out a unique and precious kind of liberty, one far richer than the typical, tired myth about college.

Luke Foster | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2013

A Catholic Confesses

Confession works even when I don’t expect or believe it will.

Jane Thompson | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2014

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

For my parents, success has always been defined by score-driven, resume-building standards.

Susanna Im | The Columbia Crown & Cross | Fall 2014

Why Do I Need to Confess My Sins to a Priest?

One of the questions that many people often ask Catholics is, “Who do you need to confess your sins to a priest to receive forgiveness?"

Fr. Mark Murphy | The Harvard Ichthus | Fall 2014

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 & Cross

God’s Sovereignty in the Midst of Depression

Reconciling the Christian hope we are meant to have with the crushing experience of hopelessness, anxiety and sadness we may actually feel can seem like an irresolvable struggle.

Tatianna Kufferath | The Columbia Crown & Cross |

When My Faith Becomes Merely Rules

If my religion were only about me following rules, my faith would be imprisoning and stifling. I’d be guilt-ridden, constantly feeling like I’m not good enough for God.

Cia Mathew | The Brown & RISD Cornerstone | Spring 2014

Peace in the Unending Storms

I felt so empty clutching the cross I was wearing around my neck and I just remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to keep living this nightmare.’

Meriah Barajas | UC Berkeley To An Unknown God | Spring 2014

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 2014

Affliction Furthers the Flight in Me

Inspired by the story of the resurrection, 17th century English poet George Herbert wrote his short poem “Easter Wings.” The poem beautifully recreates the restorative power of Christ’s resurrection.

Chih McDermott | The Williams Telos | Fall 2013

A Papal Perspective on Community

Pope Francis has made much news, in particular, because of his unique approach towards religious and non-religious communities around the world.

Tony Farias | Swarthmore Peripateo | Fall 2013

Mourning Into Dancing

It was good and healthy to have time to mourn over the uses of my body that I’ve lost, and it’s a process that comes in waves.

Laura Mallison | The Claremont Ekklesia | Winter 2013

May 2019