I stepped out onto the tiny porch of my sister’s second floor apartment and settled into a chair nestled among a handful of potted plants. Palm branches flanked the porch, creating a tiny urban sanctuary in the South L.A. neighborhood where she lived. […]
Arts & Culture
Asking the right questions
In the winter of 2015, I decided I wanted to be more intentional about reading and decided to treat myself to a subscription to The Atlantic. My first issue arrived one month later with a provocative cover story by Peter Beinart titled “Why America Is Moving Left.” […]
The Warmth and Light of ‘Summer in the Forest’
by Mike Hertenstein The new documentary about Templeton Award–winning humanitarian and communitarian Jean Vanier embodies its themes in ways that are almost sacramental. In 1964, Vanier learned that thousands of people with intellectual disabilities were institutionalized and labeled as “idiots.” […]
Stories from Appalachia
J.D. Vance’s much talked-about book has been on my reading list for a year now, and it was definitely worth the wait. I wanted to read Hillbilly Elegy primarily for two reasons. 1) It explores the challenges blue-collar America is facing in our post-industrial context, and as a woman from a blue-collar town in western New York, I felt drawn to this theme. […]
Our Naïve Dependence on Technology
The bulk of Wendell Berry’s new book is made up of three long essays. These can be read as summaries of Berry’s long career of cultural criticism. […]
A Beautiful, Robust Gospel Message
In This Invitational Life, Steve Carter attempts to demystify and reframe our understanding of personal evangelism. Carter, who is a teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, Illinois, acknowledges two polar approaches that most evangelicals default to when seeking to share our faith with friends and family. […]
Courageous Defiance
The central thesis of Braving the Wilderness, poignantly illustrated by the author through her own personal stories and a series of curated thoughts from notable guests, is that belonging is something that cannot be found among others but must be cultivated from within. […]
Expressions: The Crown of Christmas
Rough lines outline a humble stable scene where the birth of Christ is celebrated by lowly oxen and sheep. […]
Freedom to Ask
Jia Jiang walked into a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop seeking rejection. With video cameras rolling, he approached the counter and asked for Olympic doughnuts—five interlinked doughnuts decorated like the Olympic rings symbol. […]
A Forgotten history
A new $23 million bicycle bridge is being built in our church’s neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago two blocks from an elementary school. […]
Theology of the Undead
IVP’s new release The Zombie Gospel is likely to surprise (and possibly offend) many readers with its title alone. […]
Finding Ourselves
Recently I celebrated my twentieth anniversary of living in the United States, a date I anticipated with significant feelings. […]