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ARTICLE REVIEWS
“Men Blinded by Their Brains”
Review By Anna Lynn Doster
Christianity promises a kingdom based on love, not a utopia based on ideology.
“Hosanna-Tabor and the Ministerial Exception”
Review by Joseph Abbotoy
The Supreme Court has recently given Christians great freedom over their hiring practices, and we must prove ourselves worthy of it.
“How to Live Without Irony”
Review by Danielle Charette
Christianity allows us to live without irony because it offers a trustworthy hope that the world does not know.
“It’s Genre. Not that There’s Anything Wrong with It”
Review by Matt Mellema
The only thing still preserving a barrier between genre fiction and literary fiction is convention and snobbery.
“Death: A Nice Opportunity for Regret”
Review by Nathan Dicks
The Christian idea of the afterlife allows us to face regret and death with meaningful labor and hopeful expectation.
“Could Neuroscience Exonerate Showtime Serial Killer Dexter Morgan?”
Review by Lowell MacDonald
Christians must become conversant with new developments in neuroscience that are challenging our understanding of sin and free will.
“Capitalism Won’t Save the Arts– Vocation Will”
Review by Mary Bergida
For art to recover its place in the modern world, it needs to rediscover the idea of vocation as gift.
“God Talk”
Review by Michael Bradley
The Book of Common Prayer shows us that religion enriches, instead of impoverishing, culture.
“The Plough and the Sails”
Join the Fare Forward editors for Winter Mulled Wine to keep the cold away.
ESSAYS
Opening Remarks
By Peter Blair
Place started off as a minority concept in American intellectual life, but it has begun to enter the mainstream in helpful ways.
*Suburbia and the America Dream
By Will Seath
The suburbs have become the place where we live out our dreams of prosperity, but they are also destroying our ability to form communities where we live.
Life on the Border of TVLand
By Joseph Williams
The settings of our favorite television shows may be just as important to our enjoyment as the characters and plots.
Atticus Finch on Trial
By Charles Clark
The protagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird doesn’t stand up to our standards for a universal paragon, but his localism may make him a more realistic hero.
*Hallowing Our Place
By Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove
Throughout history, Christians have struggled to internalize how God engages the whole world through particular people and places.
The Principle of the Triad
By Sam Buntz
The ancient idea that two things must be joined together by a third informs Christian ideas of true and abiding Love.
Place, Marriage, and Memory
By Brandon McGinley
Place is created through both individual memories and the intersection of community memories, and marriage is the foundation of that community memory.
*On Earth As It Is in Instagram
By Sarah Ngu
Social media enables us to live in multiple worlds. The Gospel proclaims that we live in-between two worlds. What do Instagram and Heaven have in common?
Whose “Rights” Are They?
By Jacob Tawney
Political dialog often embraces the language of “rights,” but the classical and medieval understanding of a right is distinct from—and more robust than—the modern definition.
Homeless, Not Placeless
By Sarah Clark
A look at how the homeless community of Knoxville perceives the city where they live, and how Redeeming Hope Ministries tries to give them a sense of place.
*The Kingdom Cometh, So Where Are We Going?
By Jordan Monge
Our understanding of heaven has a false theological setting that divorces the afterlife from the earth. A theology of the afterlife that encompasses both the “new heavens” and the “new earth” would help to correct some of the weaknesses of the American church.
Sacred Space, Sacred Place
By Landon DePasquale
Sacred space, whether the Jewish Temple or the Christian altar, illustrates the paradox of God’s direct presence with humanity despite His utter, divine otherness.
BOOK REVIEWS
*Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
Review by Leah Libresco
Philip Pullman’s new collection of Grimm’s Fairy Tales is masterfully executed—and travelling in his fairyland tends to upend your old perspective on the mundane world.
Joseph Anton: A Memoir
Review Justin R. Hawkins
Salman Rushdie recounts the decade he spent running for his life from the Ayatollah Khomeini’s death sentence, but too often slips into ill-informed diatribes about the role of religion in modernity.
How The Hippies Saved Physics
Review by Emily DeBaun
The hippies who saved physics show us that science and religion can be both true and dependent on the culture that produces them.
A Free People’s Suicide
Review by Lee Farnsworth
Os Guinness successfully argues that freedom needs virtue to survive, but he fails to specify what kind of virtue we need.
The Casual Vacancy
Review by Clare Cousino
J.K. Rowling’s latest book is plodding and poorly executed. It fails to create the kind of moral universe that made her Harry Potter books so popular.
Digital Labor
Review by Cole Carnesecca
The digital community is growing increasingly fragmented and hedonistic, making it hard for the church to speak the gospel into that space.
In Search of a City on a Hill
Review by Matthew Gerken
Richard Gamble’s book on a coveted political metaphor shows us the dangers, for both church and state, of misappropriating religious references.
The Mighty and the Almighty
Review by David Clark
American Christians need to do a better job thinking through their political theology, and Nicholas Wolterstorff’s latest work can help us do that.
Both Flesh and Not
Review by Peter Blair
David Foster Wallace’s last book of essays can teach us important lessons about religious experience and worship.
Looper
Review by Stephen Petrany
The latest release from up-and-coming director Rian Johnson is an artfully crafted genre picture. Much more surprising is that it is also a convincing morality tale.