The Calvinist International
Over at the New York Times Ross Douthat has penned a tongue-in-cheek column about what could be if Donald Trump was a domestic policy wonk. The point he makes about family policy, one he has been making for some time now, is a good one. There is a family policy vacuum at the top end of town. The questions […]
Just after our post on The Benedict Option yesterday, Noah Millman posted a friendly, but nevertheless formidable, critique of it over at The American Conservative. His point is quite simple– To really do what it sounds like The Benedict Option wants to do, you need a religion other than Christianity. And if The Benedict Option means […]
Though Ross Douthat was easily able to take apart its over-confident assertions, there’s still something important to Adam Gopnik’s (very well written) essay, “Bigger than Phil: When did faith start to fade?” He gives a helpful short history of the rise of modern “atheism” and “skepticism,” but he also points out the practical side. Note well this […]
Ross Douthat had an intriguing article in the Sunday Review of the New York Times about the strong correlation between healthy families and personal economic success. He argues, I think rightly, that easier access to divorce and abortion has drastically hurt the family among America’s lower class, thus worsening the great divide. He also points […]
Ross Douthat argues that while the Pope’s recent statement on gays doesn’t signal a massive change in doctrine, it does signal a change in tone and strategy, in a significant way. Rod Dreher adds that this likely means that Francis will be emphasizing the more liberal spirit of modern Catholicism. Is this finally the Vatican […]
While we don’t typically like to weigh in with explicitly partisan commentary, since doing so too often distracts from the more important issue of philosophical and theological principles, this description of the Obama administration from Ross Douthat seemed fairly accurate and helpful for future dialog: Obama has governed as a business-friendly social democrat and an […]
Part of what made me want to publish a review of an older book like Allan Carlson’s Third Ways is that it seems as if a number of conservatives are making known their desires to break with the unhelpful Left/Right political bifurcation. A few years back James Matthew Wilson wrote his “Letter from a Traditional Conservative” at Front […]
This past Sunday, Ross Douthat started a truly astounding conversation about babies, decadence, and the American social conscience. A strong but partially appreciative criticism was offered by Matthew Yglesias at Slate, and a qualifying but supportive essay was written by Samuel Goldman. Rod Dreher has made steady commentary throughout the week, with a suggested definition […]
David Sessions thinks that the GOP ought to rethink its alliance with Evangelicals, not because it is wrong necessarily, but because it is bad for business. Judging from recent studies, the merger of religion with politics has been demonstrably bad for religion; Mr. Sessions thinks that it is only a matter of time before it […]
Ross Douthat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, Free Press, 2012. Ross Douthat’s Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics is a very encouraging read. It gives the reader a detailed narrative of the fall of mainline Christianity in America, as well as the various reactions to this fall, along […]