Month: December 2018

employee stock ownership plans

I really appreciated Rachel Cohen’s discussion of what an employee stock ownership plan is and why there’s enthusiasm for them: Unlike conservatives, who have defended employee ownership on the grounds that it’s most certainly not socialism — indeed, it turns laborers into capitalists —...

/ December 31, 2018

education and all God’s children

I really appreciated D.L. Mayfield’s essay about educating our children and “gifted and talented” programs: What is the right relationship to educational choice for the Christian? It’s complicated, and I often think about what Paul was trying to communicate in...

/ December 28, 2018

the moral vision of George Bailey

I really appreciated what K.B. Hoyle had to say about It’s a Wonderful Life: Most of the film is devoted to showing us these things about George’s life. From the deafness he suffers in one ear—physical disability—to having to miss out...

/ December 27, 2018

what if there’s nothing to assimilate to?

Shadi Hamid continues to be indispensable in thinking through issues of identity, belief, and assimilation in America: In short, Muslims are becoming more integrated, but they are becoming more integrated within only one half of the country, the Democratic one....

/ December 26, 2018

why is Turkey buying a town in Sudan?

No posts planned for tomorrow- Merry Christmas! If you’re into Northeast African politics, you won’t want to miss this dispatch from Nanjala Nyabola: Suakin sits along Sudan’s Red Sea coast, a small grouping of faded buildings and historical ruins containing...

/ December 24, 2018

a letter from a Chinese pastor

This is a moving letter from a Chinese pastor arrested for preaching the Gospel: Those who lock me up will one day be locked up by angels. Those who interrogate me will finally be questioned and judged by Christ.  When I...

/ December 21, 2018

culture is learning to be free

This is a fascinating interview with Patrick Deneen at the ever-worthwhile Comment magazine (subscribe now for $30/year!) Liberalism ends in slavery because its notion of freedom involves the pursuit of desires that can never be sated, that can never be fulfilled....

/ December 20, 2018

“Shallow songs last for three years, and breed shallow believers that last for three years.”

Church Times has a fascinating (if somewhat meandering) report on the history and future of contemporary worship music: In fact, almost from the start, much of the critique of contemporary worship music has emerged from within the movement. Wimber was...

/ December 19, 2018

more on teaching professionalism to medical students

After reading Brewer Eberly’s great piece on the main site about virtue ethics and the Reformed tradition, I was delighted to find this reflection from him about teaching professionalism to medical students: And yet, medical students may be disconnected from moral...

/ December 18, 2018

there may have been a manger, but it wasn’t a stable

Stop your nativity pageants! What, then, does it mean for the kataluma to have ‘no space’? It means that many, like Joseph and Mary, have travelled to Bethlehem, and the family guest room is already full, probably with other relatives who arrived earlier....

/ December 17, 2018