On What Counts as a Theory of the Atonement
Atonement is a central concept in Christian theology. Theories about the atonement--what it is, how it works--abound. Below is a long...
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- May 30
- 1 min
Unaffordable and Under Threat: Higher Education's Debt Crises (and How to Fix Them)
I recently published an essay at Public Discourse. I argue that federal student lending creates two crises in higher education: a current...
- May 24
- 1 min
A Marian Intervention While Reading H. Rider Haggard
At The Lamp Magazine blog, there's a lyrical essay I wrote on a strange experience I had while reading Haggard's novel, She. I appreciate...
- May 17
- 1 min
Reading and the Virtue of Memory
I have an essay over at the Christian Scholars Review blog, called "Reading and the Virtue of Memory." An excerpt: "Whatever our degree...
- May 2
- 3 min
Cracking Your Head (On Reading Hard Books)
My first year of graduate school did not go well. At first I was simply thrilled to be able to study theology at Oxford University, but...
- Apr 28
- 6 min
Wine, Weddings, and Signs
I’ve recently found myself, in the transition from Lent to Easter, focusing on the miracle at the wedding in Cana. The story—including...
- Apr 25
- 1 min
Baylor Connections
Baylor has a radio show on our local public radio station, hosted by Derek Smith. He had me on the show last week to talk about my...
- Apr 20
- 1 min
Was Solomon the Wisest?
The lore is that King Solomon was the wisest who ever lived. In Paradiso, Dante questions the lore. What about Adam before the Fall, or...
- May 11, 2021
- 6 min
Duns Scotus' Argument for a First Cause (Or, Why Illúvatar is not God)
Duns Scotus’ rational route to God begins, oddly enough, with the Bible. God revealed himself to Moses as “I am who I am,” and for most...
- Apr 20, 2021
- 10 min
St. Bonaventure on Real and Symbolic Presence
[Re-posting this since I had removed it a few months back in hopes of publishing it in a more widely- read venue. It's good! But not...
- Apr 12, 2021
- 4 min
AI Doppelgängers
I had a prophetic idea the other day which I haven't seen anywhere before. I write it here as a warning, but some people will think it's...
- Apr 1, 2021
- 6 min
Thick Being, Thin Being, and God
“Tu es verum esse; tu es totum esse” --Duns Scotus There is an old tradition which associates God with being or existence. Duns Scotus...
- Mar 23, 2021
- 9 min
Fortifying the Intellectual Life
I recently read Zena Hitz's book, Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life (Princeton, 2020). I highly recommend it....
- Nov 16, 2020
- 1 min
Two Recent Podcasts
Over the last few months I've had the privilege to talk about things I love on two podcasts. Earlier this month I was on Mere Fidelity,...
- Oct 6, 2020
- 3 min
C.S. Lewis on Nature and Reasoning about God
In the Introduction to The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis tells us the reasons he used to give when people would ask him why he was an...
- Oct 2, 2020
- 2 min
Something Must Exist
"Why is there something rather than nothing?" Here is one of the biggest of the Big Questions. But for the all deep philosophizing done...
- Aug 26, 2020
- 2 min
How Much Can I Love My Hat?
Sometimes I think that a saint is someone who is capable of loving a hat more than I currently love anything. You get to a strange...
- Aug 17, 2020
- 2 min
Divine Ideas
When I hear the words "creation" and even "creationism," I don't usually think of the old debates about "creation vs evolution." Instead...
- Jun 10, 2020
- 5 min
Joy, Discipline, and Sacrifice
Sometimes the good life demands sacrifice. It is written, Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends....
- Jun 1, 2020
- 4 min
Rightly Ordered Loves and Intensity of Feeling
What it means for a virtue to regulate an appetite has nothing to do with diminishing appetite as such. It has to do with ordering an...
- May 25, 2020
- 4 min
Disability and Medieval Philosophy?
Yes. My friend, Scott Williams, has put together an excellent book bringing the academic field of disability studies into dialogue with...
- May 20, 2020
- 1 min
One Wine is Left in the Broken Bowl
What is left for the cold grey soul That moans like a wounded dove? One wine is left in the broken bowl 'Tis, to love, and love, and...
- May 20, 2020
- 1 min
What Forms Will Your Loves Call Forth?
Here is an audio file of some commentary I gave on Charles Williams' novel, The Place of the Lion. I originally recorded this for my...
- May 11, 2020
- 3 min
Conformity to the Real
Philosophy is an activity and all activities aim at the good. What good does Philosophy aim at? Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding. These...