Breathing, Gratitude and the Power of Silence

As we rush about our busy lives, how often do we stop to savor the joy of being able to breathe, or the joy of being able to sit in a state…

Republicans Cast Doubt on Normal Operations of Human Mind

Today I added the following section to my earlier post, ‘How Trump is Normalizing Relativism‘, looking at some disturbing trends in the Republican Party that throw into question the normal operations of…

Trump and the Eclipse of Conservatism

Increasingly, the political order is treated as so much raw material waiting for the imposition of raw will. As questions of ultimate meaning become relativized, naked authority rushes to fill the vacuum.…

Great Lent and Cultural Anthropology

As we enter the season of Lent, we would do well to reflect on the spiritual value of struggle. The Church would not have given us an entire season devoted to struggling…

Spiritual Nationalism in America

One of the things I’ve been exloring recently is the ramifications of the Puritan rejection of the ecclesiastical calendar. Eager to avoid anything resembling Roman Catholicism, the Puritans rejected all holy days…

Both Sin and Virtue are Difficult

From my Touchstone feature, ‘The Cross of Least Resistance‘: If we look into the faces of people whose lives revolve around the pursuit of sinful lusts, we often see how severe is…

A Model of Gratitude

Since I’ve been posting a lot recently about gratitude, mention of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is way overdue. Bonhoeffer was one of the best examples of gratitude throughout the 20th century. Like Viktor Frankl, Bonhoeffer showed that…

Strengthening the Habits of Virtue

From ‘Do What Comes Naturally…But Work at it‘: Lab research shows that human beings have a limited amount of will-power in any given situation. That is why, if you try to run…

What Science Has to Say about Heavy-Handed Parenting

Having benefited so much from Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains, I was eager to read his latest book The Glass Cage: Automation and Us.…

Nine Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Parenting Teenagers

I first published this post in 2014, but am rerunning it now for the sake of many new readers who may not have seen this. Introduction Having been involved in raising five…

The Cross of Least Resistance

My earlier blog post, ‘Struggling Towards Holiness‘, has been published in the March/April issue of Touchstone. Touchstone has made this article available for those who don’t subscribe to the magazine at the…

Links to Series on Attentiveness

In 2013, I did work on attentiveness for the Colson Center. I have gradually been republishing my work here, which you can access at the following links: Hollowing out the Habits of…



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