Wrongful

My interview with former death row inmate Ndume Olatsushani shook my faith in our justice system. But I found that my own attitude represented a larger problem.

Reading Charitably

Applying the commandment to “love my neighbor” to literature, I discovered a whole new way of relating to writers.

Compassion in the Face of Force

For Simone Weil, justice is primarily an act of paying attention, which protects the sacred cry in every human being not to be hurt.

Death, Diversion, and the Credo

In the face of death, Tocqueville and Pascal saw two paths toward despair—but Pope Benedict XVI offers a third way of confronting mortality.

Privilege, Repentance, Forgiveness

Identifying privilege offers insight into grace and allows us to take responsibility for both our own responses and the needs of others.

Blessed Are the Homesick

The independent rootlessness of emerging adults presents potent opportunities for the practice of hospitality.

Prodigal City

The bankruptcy of Detroit is a consequence of multi-faceted social problems that defy simple solutions and pat answers. To love the city will require more than creative thinking.

Strange Gods

Scalia’s book exemplifies a recent shift from conceiving of sin as moral transgression, to viewing it as false worship.

The Evangelicals You Don’t Know

A generous attempt at acquainting an urban, secular audience with young, post-culture war Evangelicals buries stereotypes, but it raises a question it cannot answer.

On God’s Side

While Wallis’s conceptual framework for Christian political engagement is solid, his attempt to translate that framework to concrete action points is disorganized and unconvincing.