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Capitol riot. Portland protests. MAGA. Woke. At the utterance of such words, primal emotions and tribal loyalties emerge with sharpness and severity. Words like these have come to represent two alternative universes on either side of reality—as near photographic negatives of one another. Both sides exhibit similar symptoms, revealing shared underlying pathologies; ideology over truth, […]
Monday, 12 April, 2021 by Joshua Pauling
In Part 1, I explored how sports function as what James K.A. Smith calls a cultural liturgy. While sports send strong cultural messages of consumerism, competition, and entertainment, they also offer a window into how human beings form lasting habits of devotion and commitment—how it is we come to adore something. The rituals and practices […]
Monday, 08 March, 2021 by Joshua Pauling
In March 2020 BCE (Before COVID Era), sports fans were gearing up for another college basketball binge, with conference championships underway and the fabled NCAA tournament ready for roll-out. Excitement was building for a new round of heroes and villains, upsets and blowouts, Cinderella stories and human-interest pieces, all carefully curated into an ever-expanding multimedia […]
Monday, 15 February, 2021 by Joshua Pauling
The Cold War dissidents are currently hot commodities. Rod Dreher has been documenting their lives for years now, especially in his new book Live Not by Lies, which tells the stories of those who lived behind the Iron Curtain and found “within [themselves] and [their] community the means to live in the dignity of truth” […]
Monday, 04 January, 2021 by Joshua Pauling
We’re steeped in a cultural soup of ascent. From religious life framed as the journey upwards, to transcending human limitations through technology, or climbing the corporate ladder, the mentality of ascent is ubiquitous. Career advancement. Personal achievement. The moral arc of history. And so it goes. But as the incarnation of our Lord in the […]
Wednesday, 16 December, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
The holiday rush from Halloween to Thanksgiving and Christmas to New Year’s is on. Holiday retail spending this year is projected to surpass an astounding $1 trillion from November to January. It’s a time of year that evokes a range of emotions; from great excitement and joy, to the glib sentimentality of holiday cheer, to […]
Thursday, 26 November, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
Questions of human identity are shaking societies to their very core. In her book Primal Screams, Mary Eberstadt explains how traditional answers to this question found in family, community, and faith identity have in large part disintegrated. She writes, “Every one of the assumptions [we] could take for granted is now negotiable. No wonder erotic […]
Wednesday, 21 October, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
When one surveys the broad landscape of Christianity today, confessional Lutheran and Reformed Christians share significant doctrinal acreage. This is something to celebrate and leverage amidst challenges in the broader Christian Church and society at large. Yet once the theologian’s shovel starts excavating below the surface, significant divergence at key points is found, revealing chasms […]
Friday, 18 September, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
Today’s society places ever-increasing importance on human autonomy. Deriving from two Greek words, auto (self) and nomos (law), autonomy has ascended the ladder of sacred order in the American psyche and is now enthroned on high. The freedom to make one’s own choices has surpassed all other considerations as the self has become both law […]
Tuesday, 25 August, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
For a large portion of the church catholic, Sunday, June 7 marked the commemoration of Trinity Sunday. Traditionally, this annual event in the life of the church focuses on the profound mystery of the Holy Trinity in the hymns, prayers, and readings of the day, and commences the longest season of the church year, entitled […]
Tuesday, 14 July, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
Why go to church? According to a Pew Research Center survey, Christians answer that question in a variety of ways, with common responses being: to grow closer to God, to give children a moral foundation, to become a better person, and to meet a religious obligation. While none of these reasons are wrong per se, […]
Thursday, 11 June, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s remembers well the Just Say No campaign as part of the War on Drugs. While the intent here is not to engage in a political debate about said program, it does provide a launching-off point to discuss how moral issues are framed. By framing the drug […]
Monday, 20 April, 2020 by Joshua Pauling
